n hopes; and to him
they yielded a fitting and implicit submission.

"In so short a period, Mecca had, from this wonderful movement,
been rent into two factions, which, unmindful of the old land-marks
of tribe and family, were arrayed in deadly opposition one against
the other. The believers bore persecution with a patient and
tolerant spirit. And though it was their wisdom so to do, the
credit of a magnanimous forbearance may be freely accorded to
them. One hundred men and women, rather than abjure the precious
faith, had abandoned their homes, and sought refuge, till the storm
should be overpast, in Abyssinian exile. And now even a larger
number, with the Prophet himself, emigrated from their fondly-loved
city, with its sacred temple,--to them the holiest spot on
earth,--and fled to Medina. There the same wonder-working charm had
within two or three years prepared for them a brotherhood ready to
defend the Prophet and his followers with their blood. Jewish truth
had long sounded in the ears of the men of Medina, but it was not
till they heard the spirit-stirring strains of the Arabian prophet,
that they too awoke from their slumber, and sprang suddenly into a
new and earnest life."[133]

Further on Sir W. Muir says:--

"And what have been the effects of the system which, established by
such instrumentality, Mahomet has left behind him. We may freely
concede that it banished for ever many of the darker elements of
superstition which had for ages shrouded the Peninsula. Idolatry
vanished before the battle-cry of Islam; the doctrine of the unity
and infinite perfections of God, and of a special all-pervading
Providence, became a living principle in the hearts and lives of
the followers of Mahomet, even as it had in his own. An absolute
surrender and submission to the divine will (the very name of
_Islam_) was demanded as the first requirement of the religion. Nor
are social virtues wanting. Brotherly love is inculcated within the
circle of the faith; orphans are to be protected, and slaves
treated with consideration; intoxicating drinks are prohibited,
and Mahometanism may boast of a degree of temperance unknown to any
other creed."[134]

Dr. Marcus Dods writes:--

"But is Mahommed in no sense a Prophet? Certainly he had two of the
most i