but less willing to pay
taxes; their defection, as might have been expected, was a political
movement.[2] None the less was it a revolt from Islam, for here the
political society and the religious are identical. A peculiar compliment
to Mahomet was involved in the fact that the leaders of the rebellion in
the various districts did not pose as princes and kings, but as
prophets; in this appeared to lie the secret of Islam's success.

1. _Reign of Abu Bekr_.--Abu Bekr proved himself quite equal to the
perilous situation. In the first place, he allowed the expedition
against the Greeks, already arranged by Mahomet, quietly to set out,
limiting himself for the time to the defence of Medina. On the return of
the army he proceeded to attack the rebels. The holy spirit of Islam
kept the men of Medina together, and inspired in them an all-absorbing
zeal for the faith; the Arabs as a whole had no other bond of union and
no better source of inspiration than individual interest. As was to be
expected, they were worsted; eleven small flying columns of the Moslems,
sent out in various directions, sufficed to quell the revolt. Those who
submitted were forthwith received back into favour; those who persevered
in rebellion were punished with death. The majority accordingly
converted, the obstinate were extirpated. In Yamama (Yemama) only was
there a severe struggle; the Banu Hanifa under their prophet Mosailima
fought bravely, but here also Islam triumphed.

The internal consolidation of Islam in Arabia was, strange to say,
brought about by its diffusion abroad. The holy war against the border
countries which Mahomet had already inaugurated, was the best means for
making the new religion popular among the Arabs, for opportunity was at
the same time afforded for gaining rich booty. The movement was
organized by Islam, but the masses were induced to join it by quite
other than religious motives. Nor was this by any means the first
occasion on which the Arabian cauldron had overflowed; once and again in
former times emigrant swarms of Bedouins had settled on the borders of
the wilderness. This had last happened in consequence of the events
which destroyed the prosperity of the old Sabaean kingdom. At that time
the small Arabian kingdoms of Ghassan and Hira had arisen in the western
and eastern borderlands of cultivation; these now presented to Moslem
conquest its nearest and natural goal. But inasmuch as Hira was subject
to the Persians,