and human
weakness. And the malcontents in Medina triumphed, especially the Jews,
who saw with joy some measure of the Prophet's brutality towards them
being meted to him in turn. The situation was grave, and Mahomet's
reputation must be at all costs re-established. He retired for some time
to his own quarters, and received the revelation of part of Sura iii,
wherein he explains the whole matter, urging first that Allah was pleased
to make a selection between the brave and the cowardly, the weak and the
steadfast, and then that the defeat was the punishment for disobeying his
divine commands. The passage is written in Mahomet's most forcible style,
and stands out clearly as a reliable account, for neither the defeat of
the Muslim, nor their own culpability, are minimised. The martyrs at Ohod
receive at his hands their crown of praise.

"And repute not those slain on God's path to be dead. Nay, alive with
their Lord are they, and richly sustained. Rejoicing in what God of His
bounty hath vouchsafed, filled with joy at the favours of God, and at His
mercy; and that God suffereth not the reward of the faithful to perish."

He spends most time, however, in speaking for the encouragement of his
sorely tried flock, and for the confusion of those who doubt him. The
revelation came in answer to a direct need, and is inseparable from the
events which called it forth.

As far as was possible it achieved its purpose, for the Faithful received
it with humility, but it could not fully restore the shaken confidence in
the Prophet.

The immediate result of the battle of Ohod was to render Mahomet free
from any more threatenings from the Kureisch, who had fulfilled the task
of overawing him into quietude towards them, but its ultimate results
were far-reaching and endured for many years; in fact, it was by reason
of the reverse at Ohod that the next period of his life is crowded with
defensive and punitive expeditions, and attacks upon his followers by
desert tribes. His position at Medina had been rendered thoroughly
insecure, and every tribe deemed it possible to accomplish some kind of
demonstration against him. Jew and Arabian both pitted themselves
against the embryo state, and the powerful desert allies of the Kureisch
constituted a perpetual menace to his own stronghold. It was only when he
had murdered or exiled every Jew, and carried out repeated campaigns
against the tribes of the interior, that his position in Medina was