of Allah and become attested in the eyes
of the world if he should undertake a complete and purified Pilgrimage in
company with the host of his followers. The Pilgrimage was proclaimed
abroad in Islam, and every Believer who could by any means accomplish it
assumed the Pilgrim's garb, until the army of the devout numbered about
40,000 men. All the Prophet's wives accompanied him, and every Believer
of any standing in the newly formed state was his close attendant. It was
felt, indeed, that this was to be the Pilgrimage that was to ordain and
sanction the rite for all time. In the deepest spirit of religion and
devotion it was undertaken and completed. Islam was now to show to the
world the measure of its strength, and to succeeding generations the sum
of its being and the insistence of its call.

With the host travelled also a hundred camels, destined as a sacrifice
upon the triumphant day when the ceremonies should be accomplished. By
easy stages the Pilgrims journeyed through the desert. There was no
hurry, for there was no fear of attack. The whole company was unarmed,
save for the defensive sword allowed to each man. Over the desert they
moved like locusts, overwhelming the country, and the tune of their march
spread far around. In ten days the pilgrim army, in the gladness of
self-confidence and power, arrived at Sarif, a short day's march from
their goal. There Mahomet rested before he embarked upon the final
journey.

Mecca lay before him, awaiting his coming, her animosities silenced, her
populace acquiescent, her temples freed from the curse of idolatry. His
mind was uplifted into a fervour of praise. He seemed in truth about to
enter upon his triumph, to celebrate in very flesh the ceremonies he had
reverenced, to celebrate them in his own peculiar manner, freed of what
was to him their bane and degradation. Something of the foreknowledge of
the approaching cessation of activity flashed across him as he mounted
Al-Caswa and prepared to make the entry of the city.

He came upon the upper suburbs by the same route as he had entered Mecca
two years before, and proceeded to the Kaaba. There he performed the
circuits of the sacred place and the preliminary rites of the Greater
Pilgrimage. Then he returned to the valley outside the city where his
tent was pitched, and tarried there the night. And now Ali, the mighty in
arms, reached the city from an admonitory expedition and demanded the
privilege of performing t