Two years after, (A. D. 629,) was fought the famous battle of Muta. Mahomet dispatched an army of 3000 chosen warriors, to revenge the death of his ambassador, who had been assassinated on his way to Borra, by a governor of the emperor Heraclius. The command was entrusted to the faithful Zeid ; and such was the discipline and enthusiasm of the believers, that the no blest chiefs served without reluctance under the freed man of the apostle. The emperor's forces, consisting of Greeks and auxiliary Arabs, amounted to 100,000 men. The two armies met at Muta. In the beginning of the action the Moslems were repulsed, and three generals successively fell in the foremost ranks. Consterna tion seizing upon the believers, they turned their backs and fled. But the undaunted Caled, rallying the fugi tives, returned with the bravest of them to.the charge. His sword devoured the fainting Christians, whose su perior numbers fell before his fury. The Moslems pressing on, broke through their ranks, and routed them with great slaughter. Caled returned with his victorious army, laden with the spoils of the Christian camp ; and as he approached the prophet, he received the glorious title of the Szt)ord of God.
The same year the Meccans were charged with viola ting the truce, by. attacking .the allies of the prophet. The army of Mahomet had been swelled by the conven tion and submission of the Arabian tribes, and he was glad of an opportunity of humbling the first enemies of his religion, and of getting possession of the holy city. Ten thousand soldiers marched under his banners to the conquest of Mecca ; and the astonished Koreish were unable to resist the strength and enthusiasm of the faith ful. The keys of the city were presented by the haughty Abu Sophian, who submitted to the authority, and em braced the doctrines of the prophet. The three hundred and sixty idols of the Caaba were ignominiously broken; the house of God was purified, and adorned and con secrated to the service of Islam. vestige of idolatry was swept from the holy city ; and a perpetual law enacted, that no unbeliever should pollute with his presence the sacred territories of Mecca. Eleven men and six women, who had rendered themselves obnoxi ous by their former conduct, were proscribed ; but three men and one woman only suffered the sentence of the prophet : The rest were pardoned upon embracing his religion. The conquest he had gained by force, he wished` to preserve by clemency. He assembled the chiefs of the Korcish : "What treatment," said the prophet, "can you expect from me, whom you have so injuriously wronged, and who am now your conqueror ?" "None but what is favourable, 0 generous brother !" " Begone then, you are free." By a pretended order from heaven, the keys of the Caaba were entrusted to Othman Ebn Telha, and confirmed to his heirs for ever. Mahomct having regulated the affairs of govern ment, and established tranquillity in Mecca, dispatched his lieutenants to extirpate idolatry, and to propagate his religion among the Arabs. He remind only fifteen days in the holy city ; and, alter reducing the powerful tribes of Hawazan and Thakif, returned in triumph to Medina. The richest of the spoil was appropriated for conciliating the affections of his new subjects ; and Abu Sophian alone was presented with 300 camels and 20 ounces of silver. Ambassadors now poured in from all quarters of Arabia, to make submission, in the name of their different tribes, to the prophet of Islam ; their num ber is compared, in the Arabian proverb, to the dates that fall from the maturity of a palm-tree ; and the ninth of the Hegira is styled the year of embassies. Mahomet received them with great civility, and treated them with kindness and affection. A contribution of alms, for the service of religion, was imposed upon every believer, and the opprobrious name or tribute was abolished among the Moslems. The weaker tribes were overawed by the power, and feared the resentment of the prophet, and in a short time the whole peninsula yielded to the religion and sceptre of Mahomet. The Christians alone
were exempted from conforming to the laws of the Koran : Upon paying tribute, they were granted the security of their persons and property, and the free exer cise of their religion.
Mahomet's attention was now directed to the hostile preparations of the Roman emperor. War was solemnly proclaimed against Heraclius, and an army of 30,000 men was marched to the borders of Syria. The Moslems, in this expedition, suffered all the extremities of hunger and thirst, and were exposed to the scorching heats and pestilential winds of the desert ; but the shady fountains, and palm trees of Tabur, soon made them forget the fatigues of their march. The Greeks were terrified, and retired at their approach, and Mahomet declared himself satisfied with the peaceful intentions of the em peror of the East. Upon his return to Medina, he made great preparations for performing the pilgrimage of valediction. On this occasion 114,000 believers compo sed the train of the apostle ; and the rites and ceremo nies which he observed in this his last and most solemn pilgrimage, were intended as a model for the celebration of this great solemnity, to the Moslems of all succeeding ages. The prophet did not long survive the journey. About two months after his return, he was seized with violent pains, the effects, it is supposed, of poison, which had been administered to him at Chaibar, by the revenge of a Jewish female. The poison had been communica ted to a shoulder of mutton, of which the prophet was particularly fond, for the purpose, it is said, of trying his prophetic knowledge ; and one of his companions, who had eaten more heartily of it, expired on the spot. For three years his health had visibly declined, and he often complained of the bit he had eaten at Chaibar. His pains were sometimes so excruciating, that he cried out in agony, " Oh ! none of the prophets ever suffered such torments as I now feel ; but the greater my present afflic tion is, the more glorious will be my future reward !" Till the third day before his death, he regularly officiated in the mosque at public prayers ; and, when confined to his apartment, he edified his friends by religious instruc tion, and moderated their lamentations by pointing out to them his prospect of future glory. Worn out at length with the violence of his malady, he breathed his expiring accents in the bosom of his beloved Ayesha, hI the 63d year of his age, and the eleventh of the Hegira, (A. D. 632.) The character of this extraordinary person, as drawn by some Christian writers, would lead us to consider him as a monster of depravity, who built his greatness upon the miseries of his fellow mortals ; while the Moslem historians hold him out as adorned with every virtue, which can challenge the admiration, or attract the esteem, of mankind ; and as one of the greatest legisla tors that the world ever produced. When we reflect upon his unwearied perseverance, during his thirteen years of opposition and persecution, and upon his final success in establishing his religion in Arabia, we can not. but be astonished .at the genius that planned, and the energies that accomplished, such a wonderful revolu tion ; but his cruelty to the helpless Jews, and the im pious falsenoods with which he deluded his credulous countrymen, expose him to our reprobation and con tempt. (For his character, and a more minute account of his life, see MAHomET•) We have been the more particular upon this portion of Arabian history, because, upon the events which are here recorded, was founded that mighty empire of the Saracens, which overawed and shook the nations of the world. The genius of this people seemed to be chan ged with their religion. Instead of the simple Arab, proud of his independence, and happy in the enjoyment of his deserts, he became superstitious, fanatical, and cruel ; bent upon conquest, and thirsting for plunder. The lowly occupation of a shepherd, or a merchant, was exchanged for that of the haughty warrior, who over ran, with savage fury and enthusiasm, the empires of Africa and Asia.