The Meccans were furious at Mohammed's sudden ascent to power and, on his return to Mecca, planned to murder him. He was warned, however, and managed to escape safely. Legend tells of a cave in which he slept, and which his pursuers were just about to search when one of them noted a spider net woven across the whole entrance, from which he argued that Mohammed could not be in there, and that it would only delay them if they searched where he evidently could never have entered. He reached Yathrib, his destination, in safety on June 16, 622. From this celebrated flight, or hegira, dates the Mohammedan calendar, or era. Yathrib henceforth was called El Medinah (the City of the Prophet).
Mohammed's new religion was carefully prepared and organized in this city of Medinah, where the Jewish population had a great influence on the preparation and wording of the Koran, where we find a great many of the Jewish stories and traditions incorporated as a whole. Medinah became a stronghold from which Mohammed and his adherents attacked the "infidels" at Mecca and other neighboring cities with such military success that his name spread throughout the land. One of the bloodiest events of that time took place when Mohammed's forces captured an entire tribe after a fierce battle, and 800 male captives—every single man of them—were ordered beheaded; their wives and children sold into slavery, in exchange for arms and horses.
After some desultory fighting with the Meccans, a truce of ten years between the contend-
