ambition was his ruling passion, and a politician will suspect that he secretly smiled (the victorious impostor!) at the enthusiasm of his youth, and the credulity of his proselytes. A philosopher would observe, that their cruelty, and his success would tend more strongly to fortify the assurance of his divine mission; that his interest and religion were inseparably connected, and that his conscience would be soothed by the persuasion, that he alone was absolved by the Deity from the obligation of positive and moral laws."*

CHAPTER XII.

The rise of the Arabian empire.-Disputes about the suc cession to Mahomet's power.-Abubeker appointed. He assumes the title of Caliph.-Troubles at the commencement of his reign. He calls the followers of the prophet to war for the spread of their religion.-Ardour of the Arab troops.-Success against the Greek army.-Fall of Bozra.-Battle of Aiznadin. Fall of Damascus.-Death of Abubeker.-Omar declared his successor.-Continuation of the Syrian campaign.-Omar's journey to Jerusalem.-Fall of that city.-Of Aleppo.-Of Antioch.-The plague breaks out in the Arab army.-Death of its generals.-Kaled's disgrace.-Amrou leads the army into Egypt.-Pelusium-Memphis.-Alexandria, successively taken. Medina supplied with corn from Egypt. -Entrance of the Arabs into Persia.-Victories gained in that empire.-Omar and the Persian satrap.-Review of Omar's reign.-His assas sination.-Character.

THE death of Mahomet without nominating a successor, led, as might be expected, to disputes as to who should be invested with this high ho

* Gibbon, ch. 1.

nour. The claimants were principally two, Ali, the early friend and first disciple, as he called himself, of the prophet, and Abubeker, who had on all occasions been distinguished by zeal and courage in his service. Ali was the husband of Mahomet's only child Fatima; Abubeker was the father of the prophet's favourite wife Ayesha. The dispute was carried on with considerable fierceness and obstinacy for some time, and threatened the extinction of the rising empire. Neither of the claimants would yield. Both pleaded the sanction of the prophet's preference. The zealous Ali, the poet, the soldier, and the saint, had been appointed by Mahomet at a very early period as his chief minister, and obedience had been claimed for him from all the faithful. The prophet had often fondled his sons on his lap, and exhibited them in his pulpit as the hope of his age, and the chief of the youth of his paradise. Abubeker had been charged by Mahomet during his brief illness, with the duty of officiating in his mosque at Medina, and to the artful Ayesha it is not improbable intimations had been given by the prophet on his death-bed, which she had sufficient address to urge in her father's favour. The dispute was increased by the respective parties of the Moslems, the fugitives and the auxiliaries claiming the right of making the appointment. Each nominated its candidate, Abu Obeidah and Omar. At length Abubeker pretended to relinquish his own claims, and attempted to overrule those of his opponent, by advising the people to appoint Omar, who was in high repute among both parties. This counsel was likely to prevail; and somewhat appeased the tumult; but when Omar was on the

point of gaining the suffrages of the multitude, he suddenly declared his inability to sustain the mighty office, renounced his pretensions, stretched out his hand to Abubeker as his first subject, and called upon the assembled people to follow his example. Probably the wily candidate was prepared for such a result, and from this time Omar zealously supported his cause. The whole assembly shouted their acknowledgments of the wisdom of the choice, and hastened to salute the venerable father-in-law of the prophet as their supreme lord and judge. Ali, with a few adherents of the Hashemite family, refuses their concurrence: but no great or long continued mischief arose from this source; they were not powerful, though formerly they had been so; and Omar's threat to destroy the house of Ali, and to plunge his sword into the heart of every one of his supporters, if they did not yield to the people's choice, combined with the mild but more powerful remonstrances of Abubeker, produced silence and submission.

*

Abubeker, on the establishment of his power, expressed his real or affected contempt of the usual accompaniments of royalty. In person and habits he was simple and unassuming; the only designation he would accept was that of caliph, or deputy of the prophet, a course dictated both by the customs of a people yet in great degree uncivilized, and by the enthusiastic reverence in which all parties held the name of Mahomet. He found his throne no easy seat, The empire was but in its

* Caliph, or properly Khalifah, an Arabic word signifying a deputy, lieutenant, or vicegerent. This title has since been used for Mahometan sovereigns, as the caliphs of Spain, of Africa, and Egypt, and the caliphs of Bagdad.

infancy, it was weak and wayward: all his prudence, therefore, and the mild virtues of his character, as well as the skill and courage of the generals who had acquired renown in the prophet's time, were requisite for its support, guidance, and consolidation.

The overthrow of Moseilama, the rival prophet, whose progress was the first cause of anxiety and alarm for the empire of the Saracens,* has already been mentioned. The suppression of this revolt was not his only care. Mahomet had done little more than kindle a blaze of fanaticism, which was likely to expire quickly; and scarcely was Abubeker seated on his throne, when he was overwhelmed with reports of revolt, apostasy, and imposture from almost all quarters. But few were willing subjects. Mahomet had suppressed the idolatry of Mecca, not rooted it out: he had reduced Christians to the payment of tribute, but a precarious token of subjection; and the Jews, on whom he had imposed his faith, with characteristic obstinacy watched for the opportunity of returning to the ritual of Moses. Nothing appeared to be stable. The prompt display of military force, however, speedily put down the spirit of insurrection, and revived the loyalty of the faithful. Kaled, whose valour extinguished Moseilama and his formidable sect, pursued a victorious career.

* Saracens. This title is supposed to be a corruption of the Arabic word Saracini, a pastoral people: it is said to be used on that account. The Arabians emphatically sustained this character. Others think the name taken from a word signifying a desert, and that it was at first, perhaps, somewhat contemptuously applied to them by Europeans; "Hordes of the desert." Western writers generally employ it to describe the empire founded by Mahomet.

The wavering Koreish were established by the eloquent appeal of Abubeker. "Ye men of Mecca, will ye be the last to embrace, and the first to abandon, the religion of Islam?" and the idolaters of the desert, who, having reluctantly submitted to the yoke of Mahomet, were now about to throw it off, were again subdued by the fierce and untiring general who, as if to maintain his reputation as the sword of God,' had sworn espe.. cial enmity to apostates.

Princes whose power has been endangered by divisions and factions among their subjects, have frequently resorted to foreign warfare as a means of security. Abubeker did this, incited probably by the fanaticism which had guided the proceedings of the later periods of Mahomet's life, and by the necessity of gratifying the military ardour and enthusiasm of his subjects. He had incul

cated the duty of fighting for the spread of the truth, and it was said that on his death-bed he had charged his followers never to lay down the sword till Islamism became the universal faith. Abubeker accordingly wrote to the Arab tribes a circular to the following effect: "In the name of the most merciful God; to the rest of the true believers, health and happiness, and the blessing of God, be upon you. I praise the most high God, and I pray for his prophet Mahomet. This is to acquaint you that I intend to send the true believers into Syria to take it out of the hands of the Infidels. And I would have you know that the fighting for religion is an act of obedience to God." The prize their sovereign had offered was a rich one, enough at any time to excite the cupidity of desert tribes; and now that they had so recently