ised abroad. From holding meetings in caves and private houses, the
"prophet" had begun to preach on the streets, and from the top of the
little eminence Safa, near the foot of Abu Kubays.

Many of the people of Mecca held him up to ridicule, and treated his
declarations with derisive contempt. Among his strongest opponents were
his own kindred, the Koreish, of the line of Haschem and of the rival
line of Abd Schems. The head of the latter tribe, Abu Sofian, Mohammed's
uncle, was especially bitter. He was a formidable foe, as he lived in
the highlands, his castles being built on precipitous rocks, and manned
by a set of wild and savage Arabs.

Yet Mohammed went on, neither daunted by fear nor discouraged by
sarcasm. The number of his followers steadily increased; his first
converts, Ali, his cousin, and Zeid, his faithful servant, being quickly
joined by many others.

Mohammed now boldly proclaimed the message delivered to him in the cave
of Hira the Koran. He declared that the law of Moses had given way to
the Gospel, and that the Gospel was now to give way to the Koran; that
the Savior was a great prophet, but was not divine; and that he,
Mohammed, was to be the last and greatest of all the prophets.

Such assertions were usually received with shouts of derision; and yet,
when Mohammed eloquently upheld fairness and sincerity in all public and
private dealings, and urged the giving of alms, and the living of a pure
and humble life, there were those who, like Amzi, felt that there was
something worthy of admiration in the new prophet's religion; and his
very firmness and sincerity, even when spat upon, and covered with mud
thrown upon him as he prayed in the Caaba, won for him friends.

The opposition of his uncles, Abu Lahab and Abu Sofian, was, however,
carried on with the greatest rancor; and at last a decree was issued by
Abu Sofian forbidding the tribe of the Koreish from having any
intercourse whatever with Mohammed. This decree was written on
parchment, and hung up in the Caaba, and Mohammed was ultimately forced
to flee from the city. He and his disciples went for refuge to the
ravine of Abu Taleb, at some distance from Mecca. Here they would have
suffered great want, had it not been for the kindness of Amzi, who
managed to send them food in secret.

But the prophet's zeal never flagged. When the Ramadhan again came
round, and it was safe to venture from his temporary retreat, he came
boldly into the city