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IT was indeed time for decisive action. But a few weeks before and the entire Peninsula was submissive to the claims of Mohammad both as Prophet and King. Now all was on a sudden changed, and the Arabs abjuring Islam were fast relapsing into apostasy and independence. It took a year to reclaim the Peninsula, a year of hard fighting and obstinate resistance in every corner of the land. It was the indomitable spirit breathed by Mohammad into his faithful followers that alone crowned their efforts with victory. The Arabs at last were forced back, in sullen mood and with unwilling step, to confess the faith of Mohammad and submit themselves to his Successor.

A brief outline of the twelve months' campaign will suffice; for tradition, up to the Prophet's death clear and copious, now suddenly becomes curt, obscure, and disconnected. The scene of confusion that prevailed throughout the land, presents itself to us in meagre, dim, and hazy outline. With Islam struggling thus for very life, its followers thought at the moment only of the lance and sword; and when the struggle at last was over, little remained but the sense of escape from a terrible danger. No date is given for the many battles fought throughout the year. We can only guess at the sequence of events.

Such being the case, we shall begin with the campaign of Khalid on the north and east, and then take up the other Provinces in order, as they lie around the coast, from Al-Bahrein on the Persian Gulf to the Yemen on the Red Sea.

After Abu Bekr and 'Omar, the most prominent figure in the early days of Islam is without doubt that of Khalid son of Al-Welid. More to him than to any other is it due that the Faith so rapidly recovered its standing, and thereafter spread with such marvellous rapidity. A dashing soldier, brave even to rashness, his courage was tempered by a cool and ready judgment. His conduct on the battlefields which decided the fate of the Persian Empire, and of the Byzantine rule in Syria, ranks him as one of the greatest generals of the world. Over and again, always with consummate skill and heroism, he cast the die in crises where loss would have been destruction to Islam. From the carnage of his arms he was named The Sword of God; and so little care had he for loss of life, that he would wed the widow of his enemy on the field still sodden with his own soldiers' blood. He had already distinguished himself in the annals of Islam. While fighting on the side of Koreish, the Prophet's defeat at Ohod was due mainly to his prowess. After conversion, his was the only column which, on the capture of Mecca, disobeyed by shedding blood; and again shortly after, the cruel massacre of an unoffending tribe brought down upon him the Prophet's stern reproof. On the field of Muta he gave signal promise of his great future when, the Muslim army having been routed by Roman legions and its leaders one after another slain, he saved the shattered remnants from destruction by skilful and intrepid tactics. It was this Khalid whom Abu Bekr now sent forth against the rebel Prophets Toleiha and Museilima.

His column, by far the strongest, was composed of the flower both of the Refugees and of the Citizens of Medina. To divert the enemy's attention, Abu Bekr gave out his destination as for Kheibar; and, to strike the greater terror, that the Caliph himself would join it there with a fresh contingent. Khalid, however, was not long in quitting the northern route. Striking off to the right, he made direct for the mountain range, seat of the Beni Tai', and not distant from the scene of Toleiha's revolt among the Beni Asad.

Of the doctrines of Toleiha, and the other pretenders to prophetic office, we know little; nor indeed anything at all to show wherein the secret of their influence lay. So far as appears, their worship was a mere travesty of Islam. Some doggerel verses and childish sayings are all that the contemptuous voice of tradition has transmitted of their teaching. That four Pretenders (for Sajah the Prophetess was also such) should just then have arisen in different parts of Arabia and drawn multitudes after them, would seem to imply something deeper than senseless rhymes, and more specious than petty variations of the Muslim rite. It is not unreasonable to assume that the spiritual sense of Arabia had been quickened by the preaching of Mohammad, and that his example had both suggested the claims of others, and contributed thus rapidly to their success.

Jealousy of Mecca and Medina, moreover, and impatience of the trammels of Islam, were powerful incentives for the Bedawin tribes to cast in their lot with these Pretenders. Thus the Beni Ghatafan who aforetime were in league with the Beni Asad, had recently fallen out with them and lost some pasture-land. 'Oyeina their chief now counselled a return to their old relations; "Let us go back," he said, "to the ancient alliance which before Islam we had with the Beni Asad, for never since we gave it up have I known our pasture boundaries. A Prophet of our own is better than a Prophet of Koreish. Beside all this, Mohammad is dead and Toleiha is alive." So saying, 'Oyeina with 700 of his warriors joined Toleiha and his army at Al-Buzakha.

On first hearing of Toleiha's heresy, Mohammad had sent an Envoy to rally the faithful amongst the Beni Asad and thus crush the Pretender. But the cause gaining ground, was now supported by the neighbouring Beni Tai', as well as by insurgents who flocked to Toleiha after their defeat at Rabadha; and so the Envoy had to fly. The great family of Tai', however, was not wholly disloyal, for (as above mentioned) the legal dues had been already presented to Abu Bekr on behalf of some of them. 'Adi their loyal chief was therefore now sent forward by Khalid in the hope of detaching his people from Toleiha's cause. He found them in no friendly humour. "The father of the foal!" they cried (such was the sobriquet they contemptuously

used for Abu Bekr¹), "thou shalt not persuade us to do homage to him." "Think better of it," replied 'Adi; "an army approacheth which ye cannot withstand. Ye shall know full soon he is no foal but the lusty stallion. Wherefore see ye to it." Alarmed at his words, they begged for time to recall their fellows who had joined Toleiha; "for," said they, "he will surely hold them as hostages, or else put them to death." So Khalid halted three days, and in the end the whole tribe not only tendered submission but joined with 1000 horse, "the flower of the land of Tai' and the bravest of them."

Thus reinforced, Khalid advanced against Toleiha. On the march his army was exasperated by finding the bodies of two of their scouts, one a warrior of note named 'Okkasha, who had been slain and left by Toleiha to be trampled on upon the road. The armies met at Al-Buzakha, and the combat was hot and long. At last the tide of battle was turned by a strange utterance of Toleiha who was fighting in his prophetic garb of hair. 'Oyeina held on bravely with his 700 when, the situation becoming critical, he turned a saying, "Hath any message come to thee from Gabriel?" "Not yet," answered the Prophet; a second time he asked, and received the same reply. "Yes," cried Toleiha a little after," a message now hath come." "And what is it?" inquired 'Oyeina eagerly. "Thus saith Gabriel to me Thou shalt have a millstone like unto his, and an affair shall happen that thou wilt not forget." "Away with thee!" 'Oyeina scornfully; "no doubt the Lord knoweth that an affair will happen that thou shalt not soon forget! Ho, every man to his tent!" So they turned to go; and thereupon the army fled.

Toleiha escaped with his wife to Syria. The sequel is curious. At the first he took refuge with another tribe on the Syrian frontier. When the Beni Asad were pardoned he returned to them, and embraced Islam. Passing Medina soon after on pilgrimage to Mecca, he was seized and carried to Abu Bekr who set him at liberty, saying, "Let him alone. The Lord hath now verily guided him into the right path." When 'Omar succeeded, Toleiha presented himself to do

¹ Abu Bekr means "Father of the young camel" so they called him by the nickname Abu'l-Fasil, "Father of the foal."

homage. At first 'Omar spoke roughly to him,—"Thou art he that killed 'Okkasha, and his comrade too. I love thee not." "Was it not better," answered the quondam prophet, "that they by my hand should obtain the crown of martyrdom, rather than that I by theirs should have perished in hell-fire?" When he had sworn allegiance, the Caliph asked him concerning his oracular gift, and whether anything yet remained of it. "Ah," he replied, "it was but a puff or two, as from a pair of bellows." So he returned to his tribe and went forth with them to the war in Al-'Irak, where in the great struggle with Persia he became a hero of renown.

After the battle of Al-Buzakha the Beni Asad, fearing lest their families should fall into the conqueror's hands, submitted and were pardoned. Other important tribes in the neighbourhood which had stood aloof watching the event, now came in and received from Khalid the same terms. They resumed the profession of Islam with all its obligations, and in proof thereof brought in the tithe. A full amnesty was accorded on but one condition, that those who during the apostasy had taken the life of any Muslim should be delivered up. These were now (to carry out the Caliph's vow) put to the like death as that which they had inflicted. If they had speared their victims, cast them over precipices, drowned them in wells, or burned them in the fire, the persecutors were now subjected to the same cruel fate.

Khalid stayed at Al-Buzakha for a month, receiving the submission of the people and their tithes. Troops of horse scoured the country, striking terror all around. In only one direction was serious opposition met. A body of malcontents from amongst the penitent tribes, unable to brook submission, assumed a defiant attitude. They had yet to learn that the grip of Islam was stern and crushing. These gathered in a great multitude around Um Ziml, daughter of a famous chieftain of the Ghatafan. Her mother had been taken prisoner, and put to a cruel death by Mohammad. She herself had waited upon 'Aisha as a captive maid in the Prophet's household; but the haughty spirit of her race survived. Mounted on her mother's war-camel, she led the force herself and incited the insurgents to a bold resistance. Khalid proclaimed a great reward to him who should maim

her camel. It was soon disabled; and Um Ziml slain, the rout of the rebel host was easy.

A few of the leading rebels were sent prisoners to Abu Bekr. One of them, 'Oyeina a notable marauding chieftain, had often been the terror of Medina. When the City was besieged by Koreish, he offered assistance to the Prophet on humiliating terms which were happily refused; and he was also one of the influential leaders "whose hearts," after the battle of Honein, "had been reconciled" by the Prophet's largesses. He was now led into Medina with the rest in chains, his hands tied behind his back. The Citizens crowded round to gaze at the fallen chief, and the very children smote him with their hands, crying out, "Oh enemy of the Lord, apostate!" "Not so," said 'Oyeina bravely; "I am no apostate, and never was a believer until now." The Caliph listened patiently to the appeal of the captives. He forgave them, and commanded their release¹.

Having subdued the tribes inhabiting the hills and deserts north of Medina, Khalid bent his steps eastward, against the Beni Temim who occupied the plateau towards the Persian Gulf.

This great tribe, partly Christian and partly heathen, had from time immemorial spread its innumerable branches over the pasture-lands between Al-Yemama and the mouth of the Euphrates. With the rest of Arabia it acknowledged Mohammad and submitted to his claims. But the Prophet's death had produced amongst them the same apostasy as elsewhere. After Abu Bekr's first success some of its Chieftains, as we have seen came to Medina with the tithes. Meanwhile a strange complication had arisen which embroiled the Beni Yerbu' (one of their clans, commanded by the famous Malik ibn Nuweira) in hostilities with the rest of the tribe, and eventually brought Khalid on the scene.

It was no less than the advent of the Prophetess Sajah, at the head of a great host from Mesopotamia. Descended

¹ For Um Ziml's mother, see Life of Mohammad, p. 348; and for 'Oyeina, ibid. p. 289, etc.

from the Beni Yerbu', her family had migrated north and joined the Beni Taghlib, among whom in Mesopotamia she had been brought up as a Christian. How long she had assumed the prophetic office and what were her peculiar tenets, we do not know. At the head of the Taghlib and other Christian tribes she now crossed into Arabia hoping to profit by the present confusion, and was on her way to attack Medina. Reaching the seats of Temim, she summoned to her presence the Beni Yerbu' her own clan, and promised them the kingdom should victory crown her arms. They joined her standard, with Malik ibn Nuweira at their head. The other clans of Temim refused to acknowledge the Prophetess; and so, diverted from her design upon Medina, she turned her arms against them. In a series of combats, though supported by Malik, she was worsted. Then, having made terms and exchanged prisoners, she bethought her of attacking the rival prophet Museilima, and so passed onwards to Al-Yemama.

As Khalid flushed with victory now approached, most of the branches of the Temim hastened to tender their submission. At this critical juncture, the withdrawal of Sajah left Malik ib