omes
the battle of Ohud; now, Hobal,[55] thy religion is victorious!"
Notwithstanding this boasting, he decamped the same day. Jannabi
ascribes his retreat to a panic; however that may have been, Abu Sofian
sent to propose a truce for a year, which was agreed to.

When the enemy were retreated toward Mecca, Mahomet went to the field
of battle to look for the body of Hamza. Finding it shamefully mangled,
in the manner already related, he ordered it to be wrapped in a black
cloak, and then prayed over it, repeating seven times, "Allah acbar,"
etc. ("God is great," etc.). In the same manner he prayed over every one
of the martyrs, naming Hamza again with every one of them; so that Hamza
had the prayers said over him seventy-two times. But, as if this were
not enough, he declared that Gabriel had told him he had been received
into the seventh heaven, and welcomed with this eulogium, "Hamza, the
lion of God, and the lion of his prophet."

The Mussulmans were much chagrined at this defeat. Some expressed a
doubt of the prophet being as high in the divine favor as he pretended,
since he had suffered such an overthrow by infidels. Others murmured at
the loss of their friends and relations. To pacify them he used various
arguments, telling them the sins of some had been the cause of disgrace
to all; that they had been disobedient to orders, in quitting their post
for the sake of plunder; that the devil put it into the minds of those
who turned back; their flight, however, was forgiven, because God is
merciful; that their defeat was intended to try them, and to show them
who were believers and who not; that the event of war is uncertain; that
the enemy had suffered as well as they; that other prophets before him
had been defeated in battle; that death is unavoidable. And here
Mahomet's doctrine of fate was of as great service to him as it was
afterward to his successors, tending as it did to make his people
fearless and desperate in fight. For he taught them that the time of
every man's death is so unalterably fixed that he cannot die before the
appointed hour; and, when that is come, no caution whatever can prolong
his life one moment;[56] so that they who were slain in battle would
certainly have died at the same time, if they had been at home in their
houses; but, as they now died fighting for the faith, they had thereby
gained a crown of martyrdom, and entered immediately into paradise,
where they were in perfect bliss with