e and sound, and Zeid is dead. Wherefore wast not thou
slain before him? I wish not to see thy face." "Father," answered
Abdallah, "he asked for the crown of martyrdom, and the Lord granted it.
I strove after the same, but it was not given unto me."[45] It was the
proud boast of the Saracens in their summons to the craven Greeks and
Persians that "they loved death more than their foes loved life."
Familiar with the pictures drawn in the Koran of the beautiful
"houries" of Paradise,[46] the Saracens believed that immediate fruition
on the field of battle was the martyr's special prize. We are told of a
Moslem soldier, four-score years of age, who, seeing a comrade fall by
his side, cried out, "O Paradise! how close art thou beneath the arrow's
point and the falchion's flash! O Hashim! even now I see heaven opened,
and black-eyed maidens all bridally attired, clasping thee in their fond
embrace." And shouting thus the aged warrior, fired again with the ardor
of youth, rushed upon the enemy and met the envied fate. For those who
survived there was the less ethereal but closer prospect of Persian,
Greek, or Coptic women, both maids and matrons, who, on "being taken
captive by their right hand," were forthwith, according to the Koran,
without stint of number, at the conqueror's will and pleasure. These,
immediately they were made prisoners, might (according to the example
of Mohammed himself at Kheibar) be carried off without further ceremony
to the victor's tent; and in this respect the Saracens certainly were
nothing loath to execute upon the heathen the judgment written in their
law. So strangely was religious fanaticism fed and fostered in the
Moslem camp by incentives irresistible to the Arab--fight and foray, the
spoil of war and captive charms.

[Sidenote: Martial passages from Koran recited on field of battle.]
The courage of the troops was stimulated by the divine promises of
victory, which were read (and on like occasions still are read) at the
head of each column drawn up for battle. Thus, on the field of Cadesiya[d],
which decided the fate of Persia, the Sura _Jehad_, with the stirring
tale of the thousand angels that fought on the Prophet's side at Bedr
was recited, and such texts as these:

_Stir up the faithful unto battle. If there be twenty steadfast among
you they shall put two hundred to flight of the unbelievers, and a
hundred shall put to flight a thousand. Victory is from the Lord. He is
mighty and wis