lready left for Abyssinia. Some came
back and brought tidings of their kind reception there. At this time
about a hundred Moslems emigrated to Abyssinia.[36] This shows the
increasing number of the converts, who represented for the most part
fugitives of Mecca. There were some Christian converts to Islam at
Abyssinia also.[37] The Koreish being disquieted by the hospitable
reception of the refugees at Abyssinia, and enraged by the refusal of
Najashee to surrender them, sought to stay the progress of secession
from their ranks by utterly severing the party of the Prophet from
social and friendly communication with them. In the seventh year of the
Prophet's mission the ban commenced, and lasted for full three years.
There could be very few conversions during the period of this weary
seclusion. The efforts of the Prophet were chiefly confined to the
conversions of the members of his own noble clan, the Bani Hashim, who,
though unbelievers in his mission, had resolved to defend his person,
and were with him in their confinement. The time of pilgrimage alone
afforded Mohammad a wider field. He preached against idolatry at the
fairs and assemblages of the pilgrims[38]. After his release from
imprisonment in the tenth year of his mission, he went to preach at
Tayif, but was ignominiously expelled the city[39]. On his return to
Mecca he converted a party of the tribe of Jinn[40] (not Genii according
to the vulgar notion)[41] at Nakhla. After his return from Tayif he
preached to an audience of six or seven persons from Medina, who
believed and spread Islam there.

[Footnote 34: I do not mean to say that flourishing under persecution is
a convincing proof of the divine origin of a religion. Not that a
religion established by force is altogether of human invention. Almost
all religions are divine however they may have been established, but
flourishing under opposition and persecution is a natural course.
Christianity suffered from persecutions and other harrowing evils for
300 years, after which time it was established, and paganism abolished
by public authority, which has had great influence in the propagation of
the one and destruction of the other ever since.]

[Footnote 35: "The severity and injustice of the Cureish, overshooting
the mark, aroused personal and family sympathies; unbelievers sought to
avert or to mitigate the sufferings of the followers of the Prophet; and
in so doing they were sometimes themselves gained over