ed the
men of its day, and war, which at first had been necessary in
self-defence, was still carried on, and gradually came to be looked upon
by Mohammed and his followers as a lawful means towards spreading their
religion. In the name of a _Holy War_ the conquerors offered their
defeated enemies the option of death or embracing the new religion, while
the women and children taken in battle were sold as slaves, after the
manner of the time.

And the Prophet's influence deepened and extended. Meanwhile, his
sayings, or "the Kor[=a]n," were written down from time to time by one or
other of his followers, on palm leaves, on stone tablets, on the
shoulder-plates of goats and camels, and even tattooed on men's breasts;
while his ritual was strictly carried out--prayer with absolution,
frequent washing, fasting, almsgiving, the pilgrimage to Mecca, and the
recital of the formula "There is no God but God, and Mohammed is his
prophet."

Prayer was offered up five times a day, as now, by every true
believer--at sunrise, at midday, at three in the afternoon, at sunset,
and two hours after sunset: the _adzan_ (call to prayers) was chanted at
each time by the mueddzin from the minarets of the mosques. The first
thing in the morning at sunrise the call ran, "God is great; God is
great. Mohammed is his prophet. Prayer is better than sleep. Come to
prayer; come to prayer." The believer, obeying the summons, washes,
enters the mosque, and repeats from four to eight short prayers, with
genuflections between each.

Mohammed strictly obeyed the forms of his doctrine, and himself performed
the yearly pilgrimage to Mecca and the ceremonies round the K[=a]aba. He
was familiar with at least part of the Gospels, but his knowledge was
possibly scant and distorted: he was unfriendly towards Christians. For
the Old Testament he had a profound respect.

As far as can be gathered he was a sober and meditative man: he sought
neither state nor riches for himself, when either might have been his for
the asking. He looked upon women from a point of view not unlike the
characters in the Old Testament--a distinctly Eastern one. He possessed
five wives, and probably concubines--bondwomen in much the same position
as Hagar of old.

Mohammed instituted the veiling of women, with corresponding restrictions
on domestic intercourse, as a check upon undue sexual licence--the curse
of hot climates.

There is no reason to believe that Mohammed was not hon