trous creed, and the Christians and Jews would do all in their power to set their minds against him. His persuasions were treated with contempt, his threats were resented with violence, and his followers were obliged to seek refuge from persecution in Ethiopia, and himself, with some of his most faithful partisans, at the city of Yatreb or Medina.[1]
In his prophetic character, Muhammed had hitherto affected to profess the meek humility of that Jesus, whose ministry he pretended that he was come to supersede, and declared that it was not the will of God that his worship should be propagated by force.[2] But change of power brought with it change of principles. He had now gained a band of followers, and became in every sense a robber, a bandit, an enemy of all around him; a year or two brought about another change, and he became a conqueror. To recount the predatory exploits of the prophet and his followers against the various tribes around Medina, would but be wearisome to the reader:[3] within eight years after his flight, Muhammed was solemnising the festival of the Ramadhân at Kodaïd, on his way to the conquest of Mecca.[4] The Koreish were terror-struck at his
