nd then a grave was dug for him
in Ayesha's house, and a partition made between the grave and the
antechamber. It was dug vaulted fashion, and the body deposited there
upon the evening of the day of death. The people were permitted to visit
it, and after the long procession had looked their last upon their
Prophet, Abu Bekr and Omar delivered speeches to the assembled multitude,
urging them to remain faithful to their religion, and to hold before them
continually the example of the Prophet, who even now was received into
the Paradise he had described so ardently and loved with such enshrining
desire.

Thus the Prophet of Islam, religious and political leader, director of
armies, lover of women, austere, devout, passionate, cunning, lay as he
would have wished in the simplicity of that communal life, in the midst
of his followers, near the sacred temple of his own devising. He had
lived close to his disciples, had appeared to them a man among men,
indued only with the divine authority of his religious enthusiasm; now he
rested among them as one of themselves, and none but felt the inspiration
of his energy inform their activities after him, though the manifestation
thereof confined itself to the violence necessary to maintain the
Prophet's domain secure from its earthly enemies.

Mahomet, indeed, in his mortal likeness rested in the quiet of Ayesha's
chamber, but his spirit still led his followers to prayer and conquest,
still stood at the head of his armies, urging to victory and plunder, so
that they might find in the flaunting banners of Islam the fulfilment of
their lusts and aspirations, their worldly triumphs and the glories of
their heavenly vision.

CHAPTER XXII

THE GENESIS OF ISLAM

"The Jews say, 'Ezra is a son of God,' and the Christians say, 'The
Messiah is a son of God' ... they resemble the saying of the Infidels
of old.... They take their teachers and their monks and the Messiah,
son of Mary, for Lords beside God, though bidden to worship one
God only. There is no God but He! Far what from his glory be
what they associate with Him."--_The Kuran_.

The Prophet of Arabia had scarcely been committed to the keeping of
earth, when on all sides rebellion against his rule arose. The unity that
he had laboured so long to create was still in embryo, but the seed of it
was living, and developed rapidly to its full fruition. In the political
sphere his achievement is not limited to the immediate secur