ditch, or intrenchment, to be dug around the city for its security, behind which he remained fortified for near a month. During this period, no other acts of hostility occurred than a few ineffectual attempts to annoy each other by shooting arrows and slinging stones. In the mean time, tradition says, the prophet was busily employed by his arts and emissaries, in corrupting and bringing over to his interest the leading men among the enemy. Having succeeded with several, he employed them in sowing dissensions among the rest; so that at length the camp of the confederates was torn to pieces with divisions, and one party breaking off after another, nearly the whole army was finally dissipated, and the little remnant that remained thrown into confusion and made powerless by the direct visitation of an angry God. For while they

Ctesiphon, on the Tigris. It is among the prominent objects of curi osity to modern travellers to the East. "From the ruins we went to the tomb of Suleiman Pauk, whose name has superseded that of the builder of this magnificent pile, in giving a name to the district. The tomb is a small building with a dome; the interior, to which they allowed us access, on our pulling off our shoes, was ornamented with arabesque arches, and the surrounding enclosure was used as a caravanserai."-Keppel's Journey, p. 82.

"After traversing a space within the walls strewed with fragments of burnt brick and pottery, we came in about half an hour to the tomb of Selman Pauk, which is within a short distance of the ruined palace of Chosroes. We found here a very comfortable and secure retreat, within a high-walled enclosure of about a hundred paces square, in the centre of which rose the tomb of the celebrated favourite of Mohammed. This Selman Pauk, or Selman the Pure, was a Persian barber, who, from the fire-worship of his ancestors, became a convert to Islam, under the persuasive eloquence of the great prophet of Medina himself; and after a life of fidelity to the cause he had embraced, was buried here in his native city of Modain (Ctesiphon). The memory of this beloved companion of the great head of their faith is held in great respect by all the Mohammedans of the country; for, besides the annual feast of the barbers of Bagdad, who, in the month of April visit his tomb as that of a patron saint, there are others who come to it on pilgrimage at all seasons of the year."-Buckingham's Travels in Mesopotamia, vol. 2 P. 450.

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lay encamped about the city, a remarkable tempest, supernaturally excited, benumbed the limbs of the besiegers, blew dust in their faces, extinguished their fires, overturned their tents, and put their horses in disorder. The angels, moreover, co-operated with the elements in discomfiting the enemy, and by crying "ALLAH ACBAR!" (God is great!) as their invisible legions surrounded the camp, struck them with such a panic, that they were glad to escape with their lives.

The prophet was not insensible to the marks of the divine favour vouchsafed him in these illustrious prodigies, nor did he fail to hold them up to the consolation of his followers on subsequent occasions. "O true believers, remember the favour of God towards you, when armies of infidels came against you, and we sent against them a wind, and hosts of angels which ye saw not."* But, to whatever it were owing, whether to human or heavenly agency, it is certain that from this time the Koreish gave up all hopes of putting an end to the growing power and spreading conquests of Mohammed. They henceforth undertook no more expeditions against him.

Koran, ch. xxxiii.

CHAPTER XII.

The Jews the special objects of Mohammed's Enmity-Several Tribes of them reduced to Subjection-Undertakes a Pilgrimage to Mecca The Meccans conclude a Truce with him of ten years-His Power and Authority greatly increased-Has a Pulpit constructed for his Mosque-Goes against Chaibar, a City of the Arab Jews-Besieges and takes the City, but is poisoned at an Entertainment by a young Woman-Is still able to prosecute his Victories.

WHATEVER might have been the prophet's early reverence for the city of Jerusalem, and his friendship towards the Jews, who, together with the sons of Ishmael, claimed in Abraham a common father, their obstinacy converted his favour into implacable hatred; and to the last moment of his life he pursued that unfortunate people with a rigour of persecution unparalleled in his treatment of other nations. The Jewish tribes of Kainoka, Koraidha, and the Nadhirites, lying in the vicinity of Medina, were singled out as the next objects of his warlike attempts; and as they fell an easy prey to the power of his arms, spoliation, banishment, and death were the several punishments to which he adjudged them, according to the grade of their crime in rejecting a prophet or opposing a con queror.

Our intended limits will not permit us to enumerate the various battles fought by Mohammed during the five succeeding years. Suffice it to

say, that, according to the computation of some of his biographers, no less than twenty-seven expeditions were undertaken, in which he commanded personally, and in which nine pitched battles were fought. The heart sickens in following a professed messenger and apostle of God from one scene of blood and carnage to another, making the pretences of religion a cloak to cover the most unbounded ambition and the vilest sensuality. A mind untrained to a deep sense of the purity and peaceableness of the religion of Jesus may be dazzled by the glare of a tide of victories, and lose its detestation of the impostor in admiring the success of the conqueror. But to one who feels the force of Christian principles, no relief is afforded by the view of arduous battles won, of sieges undertaken, or of cities sacked or subjected, by the prowess of a leader whose career is stained like that of the founder of Islam.

One or two subsequent expeditions, however, are too important in the prophet's history to be passed over without notice. In the sixth year of the Hejira, with fourteen hundred men, he undertook what he declared to be a peaceful pilgrimage to the holy temple of Mecca. The inhabitants were jealous of his intentions; and while he halted several days at Hodeibiya, from whence he despatched an emissary to announce his intention, they came to a determination to refuse him admittance, and sent him word, that if he entered the city, it must be by forcing his way at the point of the sword. Upon this intelligence, the warlike

*

pilgrim called his men together, and it was resolved to attack the city. The Meccans, in the mean time, having more accurately measured their strength, or estimated their policy, and having been, besides, somewhat wrought upon by an unexpected act of clemency on the part of Mohammed, in pardoning and dismissing eighty prisoners of their fellow-citizens, who had fallen into his hands, altered their purpose of resistance, and sent an ambassador to his camp to confer upon terms of peace. Some umbrage was given to the Moslems by the facility with which their leader waived the title of Apostle of God, but the result was the concluding of a truce of ten years, in which it was stipulated, that the prophet and his followers should have free access to the city and temple whenever they pleased, during the period of the truce, provided they came unarmed as befitted pilgrims, and remained not above three days at a time. In the 48th chapter of the Koran, entitled "The Victory," the prophet thus alludes to the events of this ex pedition; "If the unbelieving Meccans had fought against you, verily they had turned their backs; and they would not have found a patron or protector; according to the ordinance of God, which hath been put in execution heretofore against the

"In wording the treaty, when the prophet ordered Ali to begin with the form, In the name of the most merciful God, they (the Meccans) objected to it, and insisted that he should begin with this, In thy name, O God; which Mohammed submitted to, and proceeded to dictate: These are the conditions on which Mohammed, the apostle of God, has made peace with those of Mecca. To this Sohail again objected, saying, If we had acknowledged thee to be the apostle of God, we had not given thee any opposition. Whereupon Mohammed ordered All to write as Sohail desired, These are the conditions which Mohammed, the son of Abdallah," &c.-Sale's Koran, vol. 2 p. 384, note.