Mahomet was born at Mecca, in the April of the year 569. His father Abdallah, and his mother Amina, belonged to the illustrious tribe of the Koreish; and the guardianship of the Kaaba,[71] the great centre of Arabian worship, was hereditary in his family. Brought up in a priestly household, a man of his intelligent mind would naturally be drawn to examine the received traditions and ceremonial of the national faith; and, considering how corrupt and degraded this had become in his day, we can well understand how an earnest desire to reform and purify it would suggest itself to him. That Mahomet was, in a certain sense, an impostor cannot be denied; though he cannot fairly be considered such at the outset of his career. But his genuine wish to rescue religion from the grossness of idolatry, and his enthusiastic belief in the sacredness of his mission, became gradually lessened by the admixture of worldly policy, which is ever the besetting danger of reformers. Then pious frauds were resorted to, to ensure the success which zeal and honesty had failed to obtain. When these, too, failed, simple imposture was employed—though, so far as we can judge, his belief in his divine office remained unimpaired to the last. Such has been the history of many a religious zealot before, and since, his time, though none have ventured to put forth claims so daring, or have produced results so vast and enduring.

All sorts of portents are related to have occurred coincidently with his birth. A divine light illuminated Mecca and its vicinity; the palace of the Persian kings tottered to its foundations; the sacred fire of the Magi was extinguished in the Gheber temples; the newborn infant raised his eyes to heaven, and exclaimed, ‘God is great.’ But notwithstanding these, and many other, divine tokens of the mission he was to accomplish, he continued to lead the life of an ordinary Arab, until at the age of twenty-five a marriage with a wealthy widow, named Kadijah, lifted him to a position of importance amongst his countrymen.

Some fifteen years afterwards the corrupt state of the national religion[72]—which, it is probable, had always more or less engaged his thoughts—seems wholly to have engrossed them. He withdrew from society, passing his days and nights in mountain caverns, visited by continual dreams and visions. The idea took possession of his mind that the Deity had sent into the world a succession of Prophets, each of whom was to restore to its pristine purity the faith, which had been gradually declining since the removal of his predecessor. Noah, Abraham, Moses, Jesus Christ, had all in this manner succeeded one another. Now the time had arrived for the appearance of another—that other being himself. This was the revelation which had been vouchsafed to him; this was the message[73] he was to deliver to men.

He returned home, and began to attempt the conversion of proselytes to this belief; but his progress was slow, and the opposition he provoked bitter and deadly. He was in his fifty-third year when the crisis of his career arrived, and he had to fly, at the imminent peril of his life, from Mecca to Medina. This is regarded by the disciples of Islam as the first open promulgation of their faith. At Medina he found himself at the head of an armed force, with which he resolved to enter on his mission of converting the world. At the same time he determined that the instrument by which this was to be effected was the sword.

The attempt seemed a wild one. Yet we must remark that the condition of the world at that period was unusually favourable to it. There existed then but two powerful sovereignties—the Eastern Empire, governed by Heraclius, and the Persian kingdom of Chosroes and afterwards of Yezdegird. The two last named were men of very ordinary capacity; and either indolence or the pressure of external circumstances kept Heraclius inactive. Nor could they command the services of any great soldier, such as Aetius, or Narses, or Belisarius, whose military genius might avail in driving back the invasion of barbarous and fanatic hordes. They were also greatly weakened by long and desolating wars. But, however propitious the occasion may have been, it is obvious that Mahomet, whatever might be his ultimate views, could not then attempt hostile measures against them. Necessarily his first task must be to reduce to obedience the inhabitants of Arabia itself; and the most formidable of these were the various Jewish communities, with which the land was at that time overspread.

For many centuries previously to this time, seven or eight at the least, a Jewish kingdom had been established in that district of Yemen which was known as Homeritis. During the long ages when their brethren, in the Holy Land and elsewhere, were experiencing the most terrible miseries, the Jews of Homeritis seem to have lived in unbroken peace and prosperity in the lovely and fertile valleys of Arabia Felix. The Arians, after a while, had made their way into the country; and with them, as seems always to have been the case, the Jews lived on terms of amity. But when the Catholic Christians also obtained a domicile in the country, under the protection of the neighbouring King of Ethiopia, Dunaan, the Homeritic king, made an effort to exterminate them. He attacked their principal city, Nagra, with a large army, induced it to capitulate, and then, breaking faith, slew and imprisoned the chief men among the Christians. They were avenged in the ensuing year by the King of Ethiopia, who marched against Dunaan with 120,000 men, conquered, dethroned, and slew him. With him the Homeritic kingdom expired; but the subjects of Dunaan formed themselves into a number of independent tribes, more difficult, probably, to subdue than any single community would have been. Mahomet seems to have hoped at first to bring these over to his views. As has been pointed out, their faith was nearly the same as that proclaimed by himself, except as regarded that one article of his own supernatural claims. But the fact of his descent from Ishmael, instead of Isaac, was an insuperable obstacle to any acknowledgment of him by them; and he was obliged to resort to the method of conversion which he had himself proclaimed. The tribes of Kainoka and of Nadir, the inhabitants of Koraidha, Fadai, and Khaibar were attacked in turn, and in every instance overpowered and almost exterminated. The most merciless severity was shown to the conquered. Seven hundred Koraidhites, who had surrendered to his mercy, were dragged into the city of Medina, and slaughtered in cold blood, in the presence of the Prophet, who himself enjoined and applauded the deed.

In the same spirit, after the capture of the citadel of Khaibar, Kenana, the gallant Jewish prince, was put by the conquerors to the severest tortures, to induce him to confess where he had concealed his treasure; and when these failed to accomplish their purpose, his head was struck off with a sabre. But Mahomet narrowly escaped, at this time, feeling the vengeance of the Jewish people, by the act of a woman. On his arrival within the citadel, he required that some food should be served, and a shoulder of lamb was placed before him and his followers. But the first mouthful caused him severe internal pain; and though he instantly vomited forth what he had eaten, his system had imbibed so much of the poison which the meat had contained, as to cause him continual paroxysms of suffering during the remainder of his life. The Jewish woman by whom the lamb had been poisoned calmly avowed and justified the deed.[74] Her fate is uncertain.

Having now attained the position of an independent potentate, Mahomet despatched letters to Heraclius, Chosroes, and the Governor of Egypt, inviting them to adopt his faith. By Chosroes these were received with scorn and anger; by the other two, we are told, with civility and feigned respect. Nevertheless, reports were brought that Heraclius was assembling an army for the purpose of crushing him; and it is probable that Mahomet would now have followed out what had long been his persistent purpose, and entered on the forcible conversion of neighbouring nations, if he had not felt the approaching decay of the powers of life. He did go so far as to assemble an army, and advance across the country to Tabuc; but the tidings brought him that the Syrians had collected large bodies of troops, and the experience of the battle of Muta, in which they had proved themselves formidable enemies, induced him to withdraw to Medina.

But after his death, Abu Beker, the first Caliph, prepared to carry out without delay the programme of his predecessor. An army was sent into Irak, the ancient Chaldæa and Babylonia, under Khaled, called the ‘Sword of God,’ and one of the most able of the Moslem leaders, with orders to overrun and subdue Hira, Cufa, and Aila, all of them tributary kingdoms owning the suzerainty of Persia.[75] Khaled accomplished his task with astonishing rapidity and completeness; and when he was withdrawn to take the command in Syria, his successors followed up his victories, with but few reverses, into the very heart of Persia, won great battles, captured Modayn, Hamadan, and Istakan (the ancient Ctesiphon, Ecbatana, and Persepolis), and finally hunted down and slew the hapless Yezdegird. With him the Sassanian dynasty came to an end, and the whole of Persia, A.D. 651, submitted to the dominion of the Caliphs.

The like amazing success marked the progress of the warriors of Islam in Syria and Egypt. In the former country, notwithstanding that they were opposed to disciplined troops, who still retained the tradition of ancient Roman warfare, their fiery valour proved everywhere victorious. The light Arab horsemen recoiled indeed from the serried ranks of the Grecian phalanx; but only to return again and again to the encounter, till their trained antagonists were daunted or wearied out. Whether they fought behind the ramparts of a fortified city or in the open plain, it was the same. Bosra, Damascus, Baalbec, Emesa, after protracted sieges, were compelled to open their gates to the conquerors. At Aizhadin, and on the banks of the Yermouk, military skill and superior numbers were alike of no avail to check the overwhelming tide of conquest.

After allowing themselves a brief repose, the victorious Saracens advanced to besiege Jerusalem, a city regarded by them with a reverence almost as deep as that of the Jews themselves.[76] The reader has already been told how nature and art have combined to render this city almost impregnable to assault. In the present instance its fortifications had been carefully repaired and strengthened, in expectation of a siege; it was well victualled, and garrisoned by a large and disciplined force. Against an enemy so inexperienced in the arts of warfare as the Saracens, it might well have defied even the most persistent blockade. Yet but four months elapsed before an offer of surrender was made and accepted, and the Caliph Omar[77] arrived to arrange the terms. These were, that the lives and property of the inhabitants should be spared, and the free exercise of their religion allowed; but upon conditions to which nothing but the fear of immediate and inevitable death could have induced the Christians to submit. They were to build no new churches; set up no new crosses; were to make no proselytes to their faith; nor hinder any Christian from professing Islamism. They were to wear a peculiar dress, carry no arms, possess no Moslem slaves, and salute every Mussulman as a superior! On the site of the Jewish temple, which had so long lain desolate, a Mahometan mosque was erected: in which, from that day to this, with but a brief intermission, the worship of Islam has been carried on.

If the narratives of the conquests of Persia and Syria appear to us surprising, that of Egypt must be regarded with still greater wonder. The empire of the Pharaohs had indeed greatly deteriorated from its ancient consequence and strength; but it was still a powerful State, capable of bringing numerous armies into the field. Nevertheless, Amru, who was entrusted with the command of an expedition to overrun and subdue it, had but five thousand men assigned him for the purpose. With these he proceeded to invest Farwah, or Pelusium; and having captured this city through the treachery of the governor, marched on to Alexandria. That also, after a siege of fourteen months, was surrendered to them, and the submission of all Egypt followed.

In recording this extraordinary career of conquest, our concern of course is, how it affected the Jews; and everywhere it will be found that—as in the instance of the incursion of the Northern nations—what was ruin and misery to others failed to injure, nay, benefited them. In Persia, Yezdegird had visited them with the most cruel persecutions, had shut up their synagogues and schools, and slain numbers who refused to embrace Magianism. In Palestine they had been subject to harsh laws, unmerited scorn, and exclusion from their ancient capital. In Africa, they had similarly undergone violence at the hands of Arian Vandals and Catholic Christians. All this had now come to an end. Their new masters allowed them equal rights of residence and citizenship, the free exercise of their religion, the secure tenure of their property, equality of imports with their Christian neighbours. Whoever else might have reason to lament the change which had passed over the face of the world, they, at least, had none.