ost popular
are: That a tame pigeon used to whisper in his ear the commands of God.
[The pigeon is said to have been taught to come and peck some grains of
rice out of Mahomet's ear, to induce people to think that he then
received by the ministry of an angel the several articles of the
_Koran_.] The other is that after his death he was buried at Medina, and
his coffin suspended, by divine agency or magnetic power, between the
ceiling and floor of the temple.

[65] Mirza Ibrahim (translated by Lee) states, however, that the
miracles recorded of Mahomet almost exceed enumeration. "Some of the
doctors of Islamism have computed them at four thousand four hundred and
fifty, while others have held that the more remarkable ones were not
fewer than a thousand, some of which are almost universally accredited:
as his dividing the moon into two parts; the singing of the gravel in
his hand; the flowing of the water from between his fingers; the animals
addressing him, and complaining before him; his satisfying a great
multitude with a small quantity of food, and many others. The miracle of
the speaking of the moon is thus related by Gagnier: On one occasion
Mahomet accepted a challenge to bring the moon from heaven in presence
of the whole assembly. Upon uttering his command, that luminary,
full-orbed, though but five days old, leaped from the firmament, and,
bounding through the air, alighted on the top of the Kaaba, after having
encircled it by seven distinct evolutions. It is said to have paid
reverence to the prophet, addressing him in elegant Arabic, in set
phrase of encomium, and concluding with the formula of the Mussulman
faith. This done, the moon is said to have descended from the Kaaba, to
have entered the right sleeve of Mahomet's mantle, and made its exit by
the left. After having traversed every part of his flowing robe, the
planet separated into two parts, as it mounted to the air. Then these
parts reunited in one round and luminous orb as before."

THE SARACEN CONQUEST OF SYRIA

A.D. 636

SIMON OCKLEY

Abu-Bekr was chosen caliph, or _khalif_ (signifying successor) to
Mahomet, but died after a reign of two years. His successor, Caliph
Omar, continued with unabated ardor the efforts for the spread of
Islam which Abu-Bekr had initiated by sending an invading
expedition into Persia, and another into the Roman provinces of
Syria.

The victorious armies of the Crescent we