THREE months had not elapsed from the departure of the little band Abyssinia when standing the secure retreat and hospitable reception offered at the Najashy's Court, they again appeared in Mecca. Their return is linked with one of the strangest episodes in the life of the Prophet. Hishami contents himself with saying that they came back because tidings reached them of the conversion of the Coreish. Wackidi and Tabari give another story, of which the following is a close outline.

The aim of Mahomet had been the regeneration of his people. But he had fallen miserably short of Mahomet it.

The conversion of forty or fifty souls ill compensated the bitter alienation of the whole community. His heart was vexed and his spirit chafed by the violent opposition of the most respected and influential Chiefs. The prospect was dark; to the human eye, hopeless. Sad and dispirited, the

Arabian Prophet longed for a reconciliation, and cast about how it could be effected.

"On a certain day, the chief men of Mecca, assembled in a group beside the Kaaba, discussed as was their wont the affairs of the city; When Mahomet appeared and, seating himself by them in a friendly manner, began to recite in their hearing the LIII. Sura¹ , The chapter opens with a description of the first visit of Gabriel to Mahomet, and of a later vision of that angel, in which certain heavenly mysteries were revealed. It then proceeds²;-

And see ye not LAT and OZZA,
And MANAT the third besides?

"When he had reached this verse, the devil suggested an expression of the thoughts which for many a day had possessed his soul; and put into his mouth words of reconciliation and compromise, the revelation of which he had been longing for from God,³ namely;-

These are the exalted Females,
And verily their Intercession is to be hoped for.

¹ Literally "Cast upon his tongue."

² Tabari, p. 140.

-These words, however, do not occur in the second version given by Tabari, nor in the tradition of Wackidi.

³ Katib al Wackidi p. 89; Tabari, p. 140-142. Tabari gives throughout; the rendering of which would be "whose inter-

"The Coreish were surprised and delighted with this acknowledgment of their deities; and as Mahomet wound up the Sura with the closing words,-

Wherefore bow down before God, and serve Him,

the whole assembly prostrated themselves with one accord on the ground and worshipped. Waild alone, the son of Mughira, unable from the infirmities of age to bow down, took a handful of earth and worshipped, pressing it to his forehead⁴.

"And all the people were pleased at that which Mahomet had spoken, and they began to say,- Now we know that it is the Lord alone that giveth life and taketh it away, that createth and supporteth. These our goddesses make intercession with Him for us; and as thou hast conceded unto them a portion, we are. content to follow thee. But their words disquieted Mahomet, and he retired to his house. In the evening Gabriel visited him; dnd the Prophet recited the Sura unto him. And Gabriel said, What is this that thou hast done? thou hast repeated before the people words that I never gave unto thee.

So Mahomet grieved sore, and feared the Lord greatly; and he said, I have spoken of God that whole which He hath not said. But the Lord comforted

cession is pleasing unto God." Sprenger has in this instance quoted the MS. of Tabari. incorrectly in his valuable Notice of Tabari, in the Journal of the Asiatic Society, 1850, No ii. p. 129. The unusual phrase signifies delicate, swcan-like.

⁴ The same is related of Abu Oheiha, i.e. Saad, son of Al As. Katib al Wackidi, p. 39.

His Prophet,⁵ and restored his confidence, and canceled the verse, and revealed the true reading thereof (as it now stands), namely,

And see ye not LAT and OZZA,
And MANAT the third beside?
What! Shall there be male progeny unto you, and female unto him?
That were indeed an unjust partition!
They are naught but names, which ye and your, Fathers have invented, &c.

Now when the Coreish heard this, they spake among themselves, saying, Mahomet hath repented his favourable mention of the rank held by our goddesses before the Lord. He hath changed the same, and brought other words in its stead. So the two Satanic verses were in the mouth of every one of the unbelievers,⁶ and they increased their malice,⁷ and

⁵ Mahomet was consoled, tradition says, by the revelation of the 53rd and 54th verses of Sura xxii., which signified that all former prophets had been subject to the same evil suggestions of the devil; but the Sura in which they stand appears to have been revealed at a somewhat later period.

The passage is as follows: And we have not sent before thee any Apostle, nor any Prophet, but when he longed, Satan cast suggestions into his longing. But God shall cancel that which Satan suggesteth then shall God establish his revelations (and God is knowing and wise) ;-- that he may make what Satan hath suggested a trial unto those whose hearts are diseased and hardened, &C

⁶

⁷ It has been explained in a note to chap. i. of the Introduction, that the whole story, as given above, has been omitted by Ibn Hisham. See p. lxxiii. Canon II. L. But that it was contained in

stirred them up to persecute the faithful with still greater severity."

Pious Mussulmans of after days, scandalized at the lapse of their Prophet into so flagrant a concession to idolatry, would reject the whole story.⁸ But the authorities are too strong to be impugned. It is hardly possible to conceive how the tale, if not founded in truth, could ever have been invented. The stubborn fact remains, and is by all admitted, that the first refugees did return about this time from Abyssinia; and that they returned in consequence of a rumour that Mecca was converted. To this fact the narratives of Wackidi and Tabari afford the only intelligible clue. At the same time, it is by no means necessary that we should literally adopt the exculpatory version of Mahometan tradition; or seek, in the interposition of Satan and Gabriel, an explanation of actions to be equally accounted for by the natural workings of the Prophet's mind.

It is obvious that the lapse was no sudden

Ibn Ishac's works (which Ibn Hisham professes to follow,) is evident from its being quoted by Tabari expressly from that author. See Sprenger's Note in the Calcutta Asiatic Journal, where the original passages are quoted at length.

⁸ That the scandal of the narrative has been the cause of its rejection is admitted even by orthodox Mahometan writers. The author of the biography Mawahib alladoniya, shows, in opposition to the assertion that the story is heretical, that it rests on unexceptionable tradition, and that the opposing authorities are groundless, being founded only on the suspicion that the facts are unlikely. See note above quoted.

event. It was not a concession won by surprize, or an error of the tongue committed unawares, and immediately withdrawn. The hostility of his people had long pressed upon the spirit of Mahomet; and, in his inward musings, it is admitted even by orthodox tradition that he had been meditating the very expressions which, as is alleged, the devil prompted him to utter. Neither can we believe that the concession lasted but for a day. To outward appearance the reconciliation must have been consolidated and complete; and it must have continued at the least for some days, probably for many, to allow of the report going forth and reaching the exiles in a shape sufficient to inspire them with confidence. We are warranted therefore in assuming a far wider base and a more extensive action for the event, than are admitted by ex-parte tradition.

The circumstances may be thus conceived. Up to this point, the religion of Mahomet was a spiritual system, of which Faith, and Prayer, and the inculcation of virtue, form the prominent features. Though the Kaaba and some of its rites may have been looked upon as founded by the patriarch Abraham, the existing worship as a whole was rejected by reason of its idolatry and corruption.⁹ Yet to this superstition, with all its practices, the

⁹ This may be concluded from the fact that in the Coran, as revealed up to this period, the observances of the Kaaba are never referred to or inculcated, as they frequently are at a subsequent stage.

people were obstinately wedded; and, unless permission were given to join more or less the time-honoured institutions of Mecca with the true Faith, there was little hope of a general conversion. How far would the strong expediency of the case justify him to meet half way the prevailing system? How far was it the will of God to admit concession?

Was not the worship of the Kaaba, after all, a Divine institution? The temple was built at command of God; the compassing of it symbolized the circling course of the heavenly bodies, and the obedience of all creation to the Deity. Love and devotion were nurtured by the kissing of the sacred Corner-stone: the slaying of sacrifices, a pious rite in commemoration of Abraham's readiness to offer up his son, signified a like submission;¹⁰ the pilgrimage to Arafat, the shaving of the head, and all the other popular observances were innocent, if not directly religious, in their tendency. But how shall he treat the Images of the Kaaba, and the gross idolatry rendered to them? In their present mind, the Coreish would never abandon these. But if (as they professed themselves ready) they would

¹⁰ Which of his sons Abraham made ready to sacrifice, is not specified in the Coran. We are not at liberty to assume, with Mahometan Doctors, that their Prophet meant Ishmael, nor even that he believed the place of sacrifice to have been the vicinity of Mecca. If, however, the current of ancient tradition among the Meccan Arabs already ran so, it is possible that Mahomet may have followed it, but without specification in the Coran, for fear of offending the Jews.

acknowledge the one true God as the supreme Lord, and look to the Idols as symbolical only of his angels, what harm would result from their bare continuance? Incredible as the concession may appear, and utterly irreconcilable with his first principles of action, Mahomet acceded to it, and consented to maintain the Idols as the representatives of heavenly beings "whose intercession was to be hoped for with the Deity." The hurried and garbled notices of tradition give no farther insight into the compromise. If Mahomet stipulated for any safeguards against the abuses of idolatry, no trace of them can be now discovered. We only know that the arrangements, of whatever nature, gave perfect satisfaction to the chiefs and people, and produced a temporary union.

But Mahomet was not long in perceiving the inconsistency into which he had been betrayed. The people still worshipped Images, and not God. No reasoning upon his part, no assurance from them, could dissemble the galling fact that the practice of idolatry continued as gross and rampant as ever.

His only safety now lay in disowning the concession. The devil had deceived him. The words of compromise were no part of the divine system received from God through his heavenly messenger. The lapse was thus remedied. The heretical verses spoken under delusion were cancelled, and others

revealed in their stead, denying the existence of female Angels such as Lat and Ozza, and denouncing idolatry with a sentence of irrevocable condemnation. Henceforward the Prophet wages mortal strife with images in every shape. His system gathers itself up into a pure and stern theism; and the Coran begins to breathe (though as yet only in the persons of Moses and Abraham) intimations of an iconoclastic revenge.¹¹

Ever after, the intercession of idols is scouted as futile and absurd. Angels dare not to intercede with the Almighty;¹² how much less the idols, who

The following passage, produced shortly after his lapse, shows how Mahomet refuted his adversaries, and adroitly turned against them the concession they had made of the Supreme Deity of God alone.

¹¹ See Suras xxxvii. 92, xxi. 58; xx. 95.

¹² Sura liii. 58; et passim.

¹³ xxxv. 14; xlvi. 4.

¹⁴ See also Sura xliii. 18; and other places in which the Meccans are represented as giving a similar reply.

However short his fall, Mahomet retained a keen sense of his disgrace, and of the danger which lay in parkying with his adversaries;--

Ever and anon the prophet is cautioned in the Coran to beware lest he should be induced to change the words of inspiration, out of a desire to deal gently with his people; or be deluded, by the pomp and numbers of the idolaters, into following after them and deserting the straight and narrow path indicated for him by God.¹⁷

But although Mahomet may have completely re-established his own convictions, and fully regained the confidence of his adherents, there is little doubt that the concession to idolatry, followed by a recantation so sudden and entire, seriously weakened his position with the people at large. They would not

¹⁵ Sura xxxix. 38

¹⁶ Sura xvii. 74-76.

¹⁷ See Suras lxviii. 8; xviii. 28; xiii. 40; xxxix. 15.

readily credit the excuse, that words of error were "cast by the devil into the mouth of Mahomet."¹⁸ Even supposing it to have been so, what faith could be placed in the revelations of a Prophet liable to such influences? The Divine author of a true revelation must know beforehand all that he will at any subsequent period reveal. If the Coran were in truth His oracle, Mahomet would never be reduced to the petty shift of retracting as a mistake that which had once been given forth as a message from heaven. The Coreish laughed to scorn the futile endeavour of the Prophet to produce a union, and draw them away from idolatry. They addressed him thus ironically;-

To the accusations triumphantly advanced by his adversaries, Mahomet could oppose simply the reiteration of his own assurance;-

We have seen that it was the tidings of the reconciliation with the Coreish that induced the little

¹⁸ See Sura xxii. 53, quoted above p. 152, note.

¹⁹ Sura xvi. 101.

band of emigrants, after a two months' residence in Abyssinia, to set out for Mecca.²⁰ As they approached the city, a party of travellers returning from it communicated the information that Mahomet had withdrawn his concessions, and that the Coreish had resumed their oppression. After consulting for a moment what should now be done, they resolved to go forward and visit their homes;- If things came to the worst, they could but again escape to Abyssinia. So they entered Mecca, each under the protection of a relative or friend.²¹

The tidings brought by the emigrants of their kind reception by the Najashy, following upon the late events, annoyed the Coreish, and the persecution became hotter than ever.²² Wherefore Mahomet again recommended his followers to take refuge in Abyssinia. The first party of the new expedition thither set out probably about the sixth year of the mission; and thereafter at intervals small bodies of converts, accompanied sometimes

²⁰ They emigrated in the month of Rajab, in the fifth year of Mahomet’s mission, and remained in Abyssinia the two succeeding months of Shaban and Ramdhan. The lapse and reconciliation with the Coreish happened in Ramdhan. The emigrants returned to Mecca in the following month, Shawwal, of the same year. Katib al Wackidi p. 39 ½.

²¹ All but Abdallah ibn al Masud, who is said to have had no patron or guardian, and to have again returned after a little space to Abyssinia Ibid. p. 39 ½.

²² Ibid.

by their wives and children, joined the exiles, until they reached (without calculating their little ones) the number of 101. Of these, eighty-three were men. Amongst the women, eleven were of Coreish descent, and seven belonged to other tribes. Thirty-three of the men, with eight women, (including Othman and Rockeya, the daughter of Mahomet,) again returned to Mecca; most of these eventually emigrated to Medina. The rest of the refugees remained in Abyssinia for several years, and did not rejoin Mahomet until his expedition to Kheibar, in the seventh year of the Hegira.²³

²³ K. al Wac. p. 39 ½; Hishami, p. 92; Tabari, p. 129. Sprenger, though admitting that he thereby opposes all the early authorities, places the second emigration to Abyssinia later, viz. after the withdrawal of Mahomet and his followers into the Sheb, or quarter of Abu Talib; that is in the seventh year of his mission. His reason is that at the end of the sixth year there were not many more than fifty converts, whereas the second emigration to Abyssinia embraced as many as a hundred persons; and that it is not probable the number of Moslems should hare thus doubled in a few months.

But the number of emigrants to Abyssinia is given at 100, as the aggregate of all who from first to last proceeded thither. They did not all set out at once, but, as is distinctly said, in parties one after another, and probably at considerable intervals. The fact therefore that the total number exceeded 100, is not in the least inconsistent with the position that the first party was small, or that the whole of Mahomet's followers may not at the time of its departure have exceeded fifty.

Hishami (p. 114) has mixed up the return of the thirty-three emigrants belonging to the second Abyssinian expedition, with the much earlier return of the whole of the emigrants of the first expedition consequent upon the lapse of Mahomet.

Of those who returned from the second expedition there may be enumerated (besides Othman), Abu Hodzeifa, Abdallah ibn Jahsh,

Although Mahomet himself was not yet forced to quit his native city, he was nevertheless exposed to indignity insult, while the threatening attitude of his adversaries gave good ground for apprehension and anxiety. If; indeed, it had not been for the influence and stedfast protection of Abu Talib, it is clear that the hostile intentions of the Coreish would have imperilled the liberty, perhaps the life of Mahomet. A body of their Elders²⁴ repaired to the aged Chief; and said:- This Nephew of thine hath spoken opprobriously of our gods and our religion: and hath abused us as fools, and given out that our forefathers were all astray. Now, avenge us thyself of our adversary; or, (seeing that thou art in the came case with ourselves,) leave him to its that we may take our satisfaction. But Abu Talib

Otba, Zobeir ibn al Awwam, Musab, Tuleib, Abd al Rahman. These all subsequently emigrated with Mahomet to Medina. Several of those who returned to Mecca were confined there (as is alleged) by their relatives, and thus prevented from joining Mahomet till after the first battle. One of them, Abdallab ibn Soheil, fled from the Coreish to Mahomet’s army at the battle of Badr.

Sakran was among those who returned from Abyssinia to Mecca, where he died. It was his widow Sauda, whom Mahomet first married after Khadija's death.

Othman revisited Mecca under the guardianship of Walid, son of Mughira, the great enemy of Islam.

²⁴ They consisted of Walid ibn al Mughira, Otba and Sheyba sons of Rabia, Abu Jahl, Abu Sofian, As ibn Wail, &c. Probably the most violent of the opponents of Islam have been singled out, without much discrimination or authority by the biographers, for this office.

answered them softly and in courteous words; so they turned and went away.. In process of time, as Mahomet would not change his proceedings, they went again to Abu Talib in great exasperation; and, reminding him of their former demand that he would restrain his nephew from his offensive conduct, added:-- and now verily we cannot have patience any longer with his abuse of us, our an- cestors, and our gods I wherefore either do thou hold him back from us, or thyself take part with him that the matter may be decided between us. Having thus spoken, they departed. And it appeared grievous to Abu Talib to break with his people, and be at enmity with them; neither did it please him to desert and surrender his nephew. Thus being in straits, he sent for Mahomet, and having communicated the saying of the Coreish, proceeded earnestly ;Therefore, save thyself and me also; and cast not upon me a burden heavier than I can sustain. Mahomet was startled and alarmed. He imagined that his uncle, finding himself unequal to the task, had resolved to abandon him. His high resolve did not fail him even at this critical moment. Firmly, he replied: - if they brought the Sun to my right hand, and the Moon to my left, to force me from my undertaking, verily, I would not desist therefrom- until the Lord made manifest my cause, or I perished in the attempt. But the thought of desertion by his kind protector overcame him. He burst into tears, and turned to

depart. Then Abu Talib called aloud:- "Son of my brother, Come back." So he returned. And Aba Talib said; - Depart in peace, my nephew! and say whatsoever thou desirest For, by the Lord! I will not, in any wise, give thee up for ever.²⁵

²⁵ I have chiefly here followed Hishami (p. 71) and Tabari (p. 124). But at p. 123, the latter makes the noble speech of Mahomet to be a reply to his uncle at a time when the latter had said to him before the Coreish,-" Verily thy people ask of thee a reasonable thing, that thou leave off to abuse their gods, and they will leave off to abuse thee and thy God." Katib al Wackidi, p. 38 ½.

There is some confusion as to the time when this scene occurred. There were probably several conferences ending in threats, and tradition has no doubt amplified them. One of these conferences is said to have occurred at Abu Talib's deathbed, several years later. The Coreish, hearing that Abu Talib lay at the point of death, sent a deputation in order that some compact should be made to bind both parties, after his decease should have removed all restraint upon Mahomet. They proposed accordingly that they should retain their ancient faith, and that Mahomet should promise to refrain from abuse or interference; in which case they on their part would agree not to molest him in his faith. Abu Talib called Mahomet, and communicated to him the reasonable request. Mahomet replied -" Nay, but there is one word, which if ye concede, you will thereby conquer Arabia, and reduce Ajam under subjection." "Good!" said Abu Jahl, " not one such word, but ten." Mahomet replied,-" Then say,-There is no God but the Lord, and abandon that which ye worship beside him." And they clapped their hands in rage;-" Dost thou desire, indeed, that we should turn our gods into one God? That were a strange affair!" And they began to say one to another, "This fellow is obstinate and impracticable. Ye will not get from him any concession that ye desire. Return, and let us walk after the faith of our forefathers till God determine the matter betwixt us and him." So they arose and departed. Hishami, p. 136.

Some add the following incident. The same day, Mahomet disappeared and was no where to be found. Abu Talib, apprehensive of foul play, forthwith made ready a band of Hashimite youths each armed with a dirk, and set out for the Kaaba. By the way, he was stopped by the intelligence that Mahomet was safe in a house on Safa; so he returned with his people home. On the morrow, the aged Chief again made ready his party and, taking Mahomet with them, repaired to the Kaaba. There, standing before the assembly of the Coreish, he desired his young men to uncover that which they had by them; and each drew forth a sharp weapon. Then turning to the Coreish, he exclaimed - By the Lord I Had ye killed him, there had not remained one alive amongst you. You should have perished, or WE had been annihilated. The bold front of Abu Talib awed the Coreish, and repressed their insolence.²⁶

Though the tendency of tradition is to magnify the insults of the unbelieving Meccans, yet apart from invective and abuse, we read of hardly any personal injury or suffering sustained by Mahomet himself, A few of the inveterate enemies of Islam, (Abu Lahab among the number,) who lived close by his house, used spitefully to throw unclean and offensive things at the Prophet, or upon his hearth as he cooked his food. Once they flung into his