CAUSES OF SUCCESS.
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events highly favourable to Mohammed's enterprise[1].
After his flight from Mecca, the reception he experienced at Medina from a powerful party there, sufficiently accounts for his future celebrity. It has been remarked, "that the Religion of the Koran might have perished in its cradle, had not Medina embraced with faith and reverence the holy outcasts of Mecca[2]." The essential assistance derived from Christianity must be taken into calculation. In different ages, men of mighty minds have
- ↑ "Does it seem incredible, that a private citizen should grasp the sword and the sceptre, subdue his native country, and erect a monarchy by his victorious arms? In the moving pictures of the Dynasties of the East, an hundred fortunate usurpers have arisen from a lower origin, surmounted more formidable obstacles, and filled a larger scope of empire and conquest. Mahomet was alike instructed to preach and to fight, and the union of these opposite qualities, while it enhanced his merit, contributed to his success; the operation of force and persuasion, of enthusiasm and fear, continually acted on each other, till every barrier yielded to their irresistible power."—Gibbon.
- ↑ See Gibbon.
