had
successfully resisted a siege, submitted peacefully to the prophet's
claims, and the subjugation of the whole of Arabia followed.

An ingenious system of taxation was imposed upon all tribes submitting
to Mohammed. The natural prejudice that universally exists against
taxation (!) was overcome, because it was instituted as a religious
rather than a statutory obligation. Thus the regular payments of alms
became one of the five acts of faith imposed upon all believers. The
other acts are: confession of creed, prayer, fasting, and pilgrimage.

VI.--MOHAMMED AND WOMEN.

The prophet's domestic life exerted considerable influence upon his
religion; effects of which are to be seen in the Mohammedan home of
to-day. His numerous marriages afforded experience which led to the
framing of many "divine" laws referring to women. As has already been
hinted, Kadijah, his first wife, exercised considerable influence over
his prophetic career. She evidently had a strong affection for him,
which feeling was heartily reciprocated. She had a personality strong
enough to curb his natural passion, and to preserve her place in spite
of it in his regard. Her encouragement and support when success and
failure were trembling in the balance, urged him to persist in the
development of his ideas. He was faithful to her during their married
life, and to her memory afterwards, and promised her, upon her
deathbed, that she should share his heavenly chamber after his death,
with the Mother of Jesus and the sister of Moses. Within a month of
her death he was betrothed to Ayesha, a child of seven. He did not
actually marry her until she was nine years of age, and during the
interval consoled himself by wedding a widow who had acted as nurse to
one of his daughters. This marriage seems to have been more a matter
of convenience than of affection on his part, and in later days she
was able to keep her position as his wife only by the yielding of
certain of her privileges to other members of the harem.

Seven months after his arrival in Medinah, during the time of poverty,
the marriage with Ayesha was celebrated, the child of nine being
united to the man of fifty-three! a marriage defended on the ground of
political expediency, whereby the devotion of Abu Bakr, the child's
father was strengthened. She seems to have been second only to
Khadijah in the prophet's affections, and exercised a petty tyranny
over him, which was submitted to even whe