Chapter L: Description Of Arabia And Its Inhabitants.—Part V

The people of Mecca were hardened in their unbelief by
superstition and envy. The elders of the city, the uncles of the
prophet, affected to despise the presumption of an orphan, the
reformer of his country: the pious orations of Mahomet in the
Caaba were answered by the clamors of Abu Taleb. “Citizens and
pilgrims, listen not to the tempter, hearken not to his impious
novelties. Stand fast in the worship of Al Lata and Al Uzzah.”
Yet the son of Abdallah was ever dear to the aged chief: and he
protected the fame and person of his nephew against the assaults
of the Koreishites, who had long been jealous of the preeminence
of the family of Hashem. Their malice was colored with the
pretence of religion: in the age of Job, the crime of impiety was
punished by the Arabian magistrate; 116 and Mahomet was guilty of
deserting and denying the national deities. But so loose was the
policy of Mecca, that the leaders of the Koreish, instead of
accusing a criminal, were compelled to employ the measures of
persuasion or violence. They repeatedly addressed Abu Taleb in
the style of reproach and menace. “Thy nephew reviles our
religion; he accuses our wise forefathers of ignorance and folly;
silence 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 faction; the most helpless or timid of
the disciples retired to Aethiopia, 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 not
to give in marriage, but to pursue them with implacable enmity,
till they should deliver the person of Mahomet to the justice of
the gods. The decree was suspended in the Caaba before the eyes
of the nation; the messengers of the Koreish pursued the
Mussulman 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 baffle the vengeance of the Hashemites.
An angel or a spy revealed their conspiracy; and flight was the
only resource of Mahomet. 117 At the dead of night, accompanied
by his friend Abubeker, he silently escaped from his house: the
assassins watched at the door; but they were deceived by 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 neighborhood of the city: they arrived at the
entrance of the cavern; but the providential deceit of a spider’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 aera of the Hegira,
118 which, at the end of twelve centuries, still discriminates
the lunar years of the Mahometan nations. 119

116 (return) [ In the time of Job, the crime of impiety was
punished by the Arabian magistrate, (c. 21, v. 26, 27, 28.) I
blush for a respectable prelate (de Poesi Hebraeorum, p. 650,
651, edit. Michaelis; and letter of a late professor in the
university of Oxford, p. 15-53,) who justifies and applauds this
patriarchal inquisition.]

117 (return) [ D’Herbelot, Bibliot. Orient. p. 445. He quotes a
particular history of the flight of Mahomet.]

118 (return) [ The Hegira was instituted by Omar, the second
caliph, in imitation of the aera of the martyrs of the
Christians, (D’Herbelot, p. 444;) and properly commenced
sixty-eight days before the flight of Mahomet, with the first of
Moharren, or first day of that Arabian year which coincides with
Friday, July 16th, A.D. 622, (Abulfeda, Vit Moham, c. 22, 23, p.
45-50; and Greaves’s edition of Ullug Beg’s Epochae Arabum, &c.,
c. 1, p. 8, 10, &c.) * Note: Chronologists dispute between the
15th and 16th of July. St. Martin inclines to the 8th, ch. xi. p.
70.—M.]

119 (return) [ Mahomet’s life, from his mission to the Hegira,
may be found in Abulfeda (p. 14-45) and Gagnier, (tom. i. p.
134-251, 342-383.) The legend from p. 187-234 is vouched by Al
Jannabi, and disdained by Abulfeda.]

The religion of the Koran might have perished in its cradle, had
not Medina embraced with faith and reverence the holy outcasts of
Mecca. Medina, or the city, known under the name of Yathreb,
before it was sanctified 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, who boasted a sacerdotal
race, were their humble allies, and without converting the Arabs,
they introduced the taste of science and religion, which
distinguished Medina as the city of the Book. Some of her noblest
citizens, in a pilgrimage to the Canaba, were converted by the
preaching of Mahomet; on their return, they diffused the belief
of God and his prophet, and the new alliance was ratified by
their deputies in two secret and nocturnal interviews on a hill
in the suburbs of Mecca. In the first, ten Charegites and two
Awsites united in faith and love, protested, in the name of their
wives, their children, and their absent brethren, that they would
forever profess the creed, and observe the precepts, of the
Koran. The second was a political association, the first vital
spark of the empire of the Saracens. 120 Seventy-three men and
two women of Medina held a solemn conference with Mahomet, his
kinsman, and his disciples; and pledged themselves to each other
by a mutual oath of fidelity. They promised, in the name of the
city, that if he should be banished, they would receive him as a
confederate, obey him as a leader, and defend him to the last
extremity, like their wives and children. “But if you are
recalled by your country,” they asked with a flattering anxiety,
“will you not abandon your new allies?” “All things,” replied
Mahomet with a smile, “are now common between us; your blood is
as my blood, your ruin as my ruin. We are bound to each other by
the ties of honor and interest. I am your friend, and the enemy
of your foes.” “But if we are killed in your service, what,”
exclaimed the deputies of Medina, “will be our reward?”
“Paradise,” replied the prophet. “Stretch forth thy hand.” He
stretched it forth, and they reiterated the oath of allegiance
and fidelity. Their treaty was ratified by the people, who
unanimously embraced the profession of Islam; they rejoiced in
the exile of the apostle, but they trembled for his safety, and
impatiently expected his arrival. After a perilous and rapid
journey along the sea-coast, he halted at Koba, two miles from
the city, and made his public entry into Medina, sixteen days
after his flight from Mecca. Five hundred of the citizens
advanced to meet him; he was hailed with acclamations of loyalty
and devotion; Mahomet was mounted on a she-camel, 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 Mohagerians 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.

120 (return) [ 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.)]

From his establishment at Medina, Mahomet assumed the exercise of
the regal and sacerdotal office; and it was impious to appeal
from a judge whose decrees were inspired 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 a
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. 122 After a
reign of six years, fifteen hundred Moslems, in arms and in the
field, renewed their oath of allegiance; and their chief repeated
the assurance of protection till the death of the last member, or
the final dissolution of the party. It was in the same camp that
the deputy of Mecca was astonished by the attention of the
faithful to the words and looks of the prophet, by the eagerness
with which they collected his spittle, a hair that dropped on the
ground, the refuse water of his lustrations, as if they
participated in some degree of the prophetic virtue. “I have
seen,” said he, “the Chosroes of Persia and the Caesar of Rome,
but never did I behold a king among his subjects like Mahomet
among his companions.” The devout fervor of enthusiasm acts with
more energy and truth than the cold and formal servility of
courts.

121 (return) [ Prideaux (Life of Mahomet, p. 44) reviles the
wickedness of the impostor, who despoiled 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 shown that they were
deceived by the word Al Nagjar, which signifies, in this place,
not an obscure 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 offer of a price;
from Al Jannabi, the fair purchase; and from Ahmeq Ben Joseph,
the payment of the money by the generous Abubeker On these
grounds the prophet must be honorably acquitted.]

122 (return) [ Al Jannabi (apud Gagnier, tom. ii. p. 246, 324)
describes the seal and pulpit, as two venerable relics of the
apostle of God; and the portrait of his court is taken from
Abulfeda, (c. 44, p. 85.)]

In the state of nature, every man has a right to defend, by force
of arms, his person and his possessions; to repel, or even to
prevent, the violence of his enemies, and to extend his
hostilities to a reasonable measure of satisfaction and
retaliation. In the free society of the Arabs, the duties of
subject and citizen imposed a feeble restraint; and Mahomet, in
the exercise of a peaceful and benevolent mission, had been
despoiled and banished by the injustice of his countrymen. The
choice of an independent people had exalted the fugitive of Mecca
to the rank of a sovereign; and he was invested with the just
prerogative of forming alliances, and of waging offensive or
defensive war. The imperfection of human rights was supplied and
armed by the plenitude of divine power: the prophet of Medina
assumed, in his new revelations, a fiercer and more sanguinary
tone, which proves that his former moderation was the effect of
weakness: 123 the means of persuasion had been tried, the season
of forbearance was elapsed, and he was now commanded to propagate
his religion by the sword, to destroy the monuments of idolatry,
and, without regarding the sanctity of days or months, to pursue
the unbelieving nations of the earth. The same bloody precepts,
so repeatedly inculcated in the Koran, are ascribed by the author
to the Pentateuch and the Gospel. But the mild tenor of the
evangelic style may explain an ambiguous text, that Jesus did not
bring peace on the earth, but a sword: his patient and humble
virtues should not be confounded with the intolerant zeal of
princes and bishops, who have disgraced the name of his
disciples. In the prosecution of religious war, Mahomet might
appeal with more propriety to the example of Moses, of the
Judges, and the kings of Israel. The military laws of the Hebrews
are still more rigid than those of the Arabian legislator. 124
The Lord of hosts marched in person before the Jews: if a city
resisted their summons, the males, without distinction, were put
to the sword: the seven nations of Canaan were devoted to
destruction; and neither repentance nor conversion, could shield
them from the inevitable doom, that no creature within their
precincts should be left alive. 1241 The fair option of
friendship, or submission, or battle, was proposed to the enemies
of Mahomet. If they professed the creed of Islam, they were
admitted to all the temporal and spiritual benefits of his
primitive disciples, and marched under the same banner to extend
the religion which they had embraced. The clemency of the prophet
was decided by his interest: yet he seldom trampled on a
prostrate enemy; and he seems to promise, that on the payment of
a tribute, the least guilty of his unbelieving subjects might be
indulged in their worship, or at least in their imperfect faith.
In the first months of his reign he practised the lessons of holy
warfare, and displayed his white banner before the gates of
Medina: the martial apostle fought in person at nine battles or
sieges; 125 and fifty enterprises of war were achieved in ten
years by himself or his lieutenants. The Arab continued to unite
the professions of a merchant and a robber; and his petty
excursions for the defence or the attack of a caravan insensibly
prepared his troops for the conquest of Arabia. The distribution
of the spoil was regulated by a divine law: 126 the whole was
faithfully collected in one common mass: a fifth of the gold and
silver, the prisoners and cattle, the movables and immovables,
was reserved by the prophet for pious and charitable uses; the
remainder was shared in adequate portions by the soldiers who had
obtained the victory or guarded the camp: the rewards of the
slain devolved to their widows and orphans; and the increase of
cavalry was encouraged by the allotment of a double share to the
horse and to the man. From all sides the roving Arabs were
allured to the standard of religion and plunder: the apostle
sanctified the license of embracing the female captives as their
wives or concubines, and the enjoyment of wealth and beauty was a
feeble type of the joys of paradise prepared for the valiant
martyrs of the faith. “The sword,” says Mahomet, “is the key of
heaven and of hell; a drop of blood shed in the cause of God, a
night spent in arms, is of more avail than two months of fasting
or prayer: whosoever falls in battle, his sins are forgiven: at
the day of judgment his wounds shall be resplendent as vermilion,
and odoriferous as musk; and the loss of his limbs shall be
supplied by the wings of angels and cherubim.” The intrepid souls
of the Arabs were fired with enthusiasm: the picture of the
invisible world was strongly painted on their imagination; and
the death which they had always despised became an object of hope
and desire. The Koran inculcates, in the most absolute sense, the
tenets of fate and predestination, which would extinguish both
industry and virtue, if the actions of man were governed by his
speculative belief. Yet their influence in every age has exalted
the courage of the Saracens and Turks. The first companions of
Mahomet advanced to battle with a fearless confidence: there is
no danger where there is no chance: they were ordained to perish
in their beds; or they were safe and invulnerable amidst the
darts of the enemy. 127

123 (return) [ The viiith and ixth chapters of the Koran are the
loudest and most vehement; and Maracci (Prodromus, part iv. p.
59-64) has inveighed with more justice than discretion against
the double dealing of the impostor.]

124 (return) [ The xth and xxth chapters of Deuteronomy, with the
practical comments of Joshua, David, &c., are read with more awe
than satisfaction by the pious Christians of the present age. But
the bishops, as well as the rabbis of former times, have beat the
drum-ecclesiastic with pleasure and success. (Sale’s Preliminary
Discourse, p. 142, 143.)]

1241 (return) [ The editor’s opinions on this subject may be read
in the History of the Jews vol. i. p. 137.—M]

125 (return) [ Abulfeda, in Vit. Moham. p. 156. The private
arsenal of the apostle consisted of nine swords, three lances,
seven pikes or half-pikes, a quiver and three bows, seven
cuirasses, three shields, and two helmets, (Gagnier, tom. iii. p.
328-334,) with a large white standard, a black banner, (p. 335,)
twenty horses, (p. 322, &c.) Two of his martial sayings are
recorded by tradition, (Gagnier, tom. ii. p. 88, 334.)]

126 (return) [ The whole subject de jure belli Mohammedanorum is
exhausted in a separate dissertation by the learned Reland,
(Dissertationes Miscellaneae, tom. iii. Dissertat. x. p. 3-53.)]

127 (return) [ The doctrine of absolute predestination, on which
few religions can reproach each other, is sternly exposed in the
Koran, (c. 3, p. 52, 53, c. 4, p. 70, &c., with the notes of
Sale, and c. 17, p. 413, with those of Maracci.) Reland (de
Relig. Moham. p. 61-64) and Sale (Prelim. Discourse, p. 103)
represent the opinions of the doctors, and our modern travellers
the confidence, the fading confidence, of the Turks]

Perhaps the Koreish would have been content with the dight of
Mahomet, had they not been provoked and alarmed by the vengeance
of an enemy, who could intercept their Syrian trade as it passed
and repassed through the territory of Medina. Abu Sophian
himself, with only thirty or forty followers, conducted a wealthy
caravan of a thousand camels; the fortune or dexterity of his
march escaped the vigilance of Mahomet; but the chief of the
Koreish was informed that the holy robbers were placed in ambush
to await his return. He despatched a messenger to his brethren of
Mecca, and they were roused, by the fear of losing their
merchandise and their provisions, unless they hastened to his
relief with the military force of the city. The sacred band of
Mahomet was formed of three hundred and thirteen Moslems, of whom
seventy-seven were fugitives, and the rest auxiliaries; they
mounted by turns a train of seventy camels, (the camels of
Yathreb were formidable in war;) but such was the poverty of his
first disciples, that only two could appear on horseback in the
field. 128 In the fertile and famous vale of Beder, 129 three
stations from Medina, he was informed by his scouts of the
caravan that approached on one side; of the Koreish, one hundred
horse, eight hundred and fifty foot, who advanced on the other.
After a short debate, he sacrificed the prospect of wealth to the
pursuit of glory and revenge, and a slight intrenchment was
formed, to cover his troops, and a stream of fresh water, that
glided through the valley. “O God,” he exclaimed, as the numbers
of the Koreish descended from the hills, “O God, if these are
destroyed, by whom wilt thou be worshipped on the earth?—Courage,
my children; close your ranks; discharge your arrows, and the day
is your own.” At these words he placed himself, with Abubeker, on
a throne or pulpit, 130 and instantly demanded the succor of
Gabriel and three thousand angels. His eye was fixed on the field
of battle: the Mussulmans fainted and were pressed: in that
decisive moment the prophet started from his throne, mounted his
horse, and cast a handful of sand into the air: “Let their faces
be covered with confusion.” Both armies heard the thunder of his
voice: their fancy beheld the angelic warriors: 131 the Koreish
trembled and fled: seventy of the bravest were slain; and seventy
captives adorned the first victory of the faithful. The dead
bodies of the Koreish were despoiled and insulted: two of the
most obnoxious prisoners were punished with death; and the ransom
of the others, four thousand drams of silver, compensated in some
degree the escape of the caravan. But it was in vain that the
camels of Abu Sophian explored a new road through the desert and
along the Euphrates: they were overtaken by the diligence of the
Mussulmans; and wealthy must have been the prize, if twenty
thousand drams could be set apart for the fifth of the apostle.
The resentment of the public and private loss stimulated Abu
Sophian to collect a body of three thousand men, seven hundred of
whom were armed with cuirasses, and two hundred were mounted on
horseback; three thousand camels attended his march; and his wife
Henda, with fifteen matrons of Mecca, incessantly sounded their
timbrels to animate the troops, and to magnify the greatness of
Hobal, the most popular deity of the Caaba. The standard of God
and Mahomet was upheld by nine hundred and fifty believers: the
disproportion of numbers was not more alarming than in the field
of Beder; and their presumption of victory prevailed against the
divine and human sense of the apostle. The second battle was
fought on Mount Ohud, six miles to the north of Medina; 132 the
Koreish advanced in the form of a crescent; and the right wing of
cavalry was led by Caled, the fiercest and most successful of the
Arabian warriors. The troops of Mahomet were skilfully posted on
the declivity of the hill; and their rear was guarded by a
detachment of fifty archers. The weight of their charge impelled
and broke the centre of the idolaters: but in the pursuit they
lost the advantage of their ground: the archers deserted their
station: the Mussulmans were tempted by the spoil, disobeyed
their general, and disordered their ranks. The intrepid Caled,
wheeling his cavalry on their flank and rear, exclaimed, with a
loud voice, that Mahomet was slain. He was indeed wounded in the
face with a javelin: two of his teeth were shattered with a
stone; yet, in the midst of tumult and dismay, he reproached the
infidels with the murder of a prophet; and blessed the friendly
hand that stanched his blood, and conveyed him to a place of
safety. Seventy martyrs died for the sins of the people; they
fell, said the apostle, in pairs, each brother embracing his
lifeless companion; 133 their bodies were mangled by the inhuman
females of Mecca; and the wife of Abu Sophian tasted the entrails
of Hamza, the uncle of Mahomet. They might applaud their
superstition, and satiate their fury; but the Mussulmans soon
rallied in the field, and the Koreish wanted strength or courage
to undertake the siege of Medina. It was attacked the ensuing
year by an army of ten thousand enemies; and this third
expedition is variously named from the nations, which marched
under the banner of Abu Sophian, from the ditch which was drawn
before the city, and a camp of three thousand Mussulmans. The
prudence of Mahomet declined a general engagement: the valor of
Ali was signalized in single combat; and the war was protracted
twenty days, till the final separation of the confederates. A
tempest of wind, rain, and hail, overturned their tents: their
private quarrels were fomented by an insidious adversary; and the
Koreish, deserted by their allies, no longer hoped to subvert the
throne, or to check the conquests, of their invincible exile. 134

128 (return) [ Al Jannabi (apud Gagnier, tom. ii. p. 9) allows
him seventy or eighty horse; and on two other occasions, prior to
the battle of Ohud, he enlists a body of thirty (p. 10) and of
500 (p. 66) troopers. Yet the Mussulmans, in the field of Ohud,
had no more than two horses, according to the better sense of
Abulfeda, (in Vit. Moham. c. xxxi. p. 65.) In the Stony province,
the camels were numerous; but the horse appears to have been less
numerous than in the Happy or the Desert Arabia.]

129 (return) [ Bedder Houneene, twenty miles from Medina, and
forty from Mecca, is on the high road of the caravan of Egypt;
and the pilgrims annually commemorate the prophet’s victory by
illuminations, rockets, &c. Shaw’s Travels, p. 477.]

130 (return) [ The place to which Mahomet retired during the
action is styled by Gagnier (in Abulfeda, c. 27, p. 58. Vie de
Mahomet, tom. ii. p. 30, 33) Umbraculum, une loge de bois avec
une porte. The same Arabic word is rendered by Reiske (Annales
Moslemici Abulfedae, p. 23) by Solium, Suggestus editior; and the
difference is of the utmost moment for the honor both of the
interpreter and of the hero. I am sorry to observe the pride and
acrimony with which Reiske chastises his fellow-laborer. Saepi
sic vertit, ut integrae paginae nequeant nisi una litura corrigi
Arabice non satis callebat, et carebat judicio critico. J. J.
Reiske, Prodidagmata ad Hagji Chalisae Tabulas, p. 228, ad
calcero Abulfedae Syriae Tabulae; Lipsiae, 1766, in 4to.]

131 (return) [ The loose expressions of the Koran (c. 3, p. 124,
125, c. 8, p. 9) allow the commentators to fluctuate between the
numbers of 1000, 3000, or 9000 angels; and the smallest of these
might suffice for the slaughter of seventy of the Koreish,
(Maracci, Alcoran, tom. ii. p. 131.) Yet the same scholiasts
confess that this angelic band was not visible to any mortal eye,
(Maracci, p. 297.) They refine on the words (c. 8, 16) “not thou,
but God,” &c. (D’Herbelot. Bibliot. Orientale p. 600, 601.)]

132 (return) [ Geograph. Nubiensis, p. 47.]

133 (return) [ In the iiid chapter of the Koran, (p. 50-53) with
Sale’s notes, the prophet alleges some poor excuses for the
defeat of Ohud. * Note: Dr. Weil has added some curious
circumstances, which he gives as on good traditional authority,
on the rescue of Mahomet. The prophet was attacked by Ubeijj Ibn
Challaf, whom he struck on the neck with a mortal wound. This was
the only time, it is added, that Mahomet personally engaged in
battle. (p. 128.)—M. 1845.]

134 (return) [ For the detail of the three Koreish wars, of
Beder, of Ohud, and of the ditch, peruse Abulfeda, (p. 56-61,
64-69, 73-77,) Gagnier (tom. i. p. 23-45, 70-96, 120-139,) with
the proper articles of D’Herbelot, and the abridgments of Elmacin
(Hist. Saracen. p. 6, 7) and Abulpharagius, (Dynast. p. 102.)]