122 HIS FULL SUCCESS IN MEDINA. [BK. I. CH.II.

tingly guaranteed to them the free exercise of their religion and dealt with them on the footing of religious equality.1 This he could do all the more readily, as the Jews were Monotheists like himself, and he hoped either to draw them over to Islam, by considerately meeting them half-way, or, at least, to obtain from them the open acknowledgment, so much coveted by him, of his prophetic mission, if not to themselves, yet to the idolatrous Arabs.

Had Mohammed's own conviction of his Divine mission been surer and freer from doubt, he would probably have cared less for what the Jews thought about him; and had he been more concerned for men's salvation than for worldly domination, he need not have brought such heavy pressure to bear upon the Arabs of Medina that some preferred emigration, whilst many others, wholly unconvinced, feigned belief in him from sheer dread, and were consequently looked upon, even by himself, as mere hypocrites. But his actual conduct shows

1 The curious fact may here be noticed that the Arabic verb from which the word 'Mohammed' is formed, and the Hebrew verb from which the word 'Juda or Jew' is derived, are identical in meaning, both signifying 'to praise' (see Gen. xxix. 35). It is also, to say the least, doubtful whether Mohammed bore this name from his childhood, or whether he was not then known by another, perhaps one taken from some idol, in accordance with an extensive practice. If so, he must have wished to drop it since he came publicly forward as the apostle of a rigid Monotheism. Was it perhaps about this time, when he took such great pains to make himself agreeable to the Jews, that he adopted in its stead the new name which was at the same time Arabic in form and Jewish in meaning? However this may be, the singular and significative fact remains that, as Islam might aptly be designated 'Judaism in an Arabic guise,' so also the name of Mohammed ('praised') is an Arabic reproduction of the Hebrew word 'Jew,' only with this telling difference that in 'Jew' the intended object of the 'praise' is God; and in 'Mohammed' it is the Prophet's own person. If the name 'Mohammed' has been intentionally adopted by the Arabian Prophet, in order to apply the meaning of the Hebrew 'Juda' to himself, this would not be an isolated instance of the kind; for we are expressly informed in vol. i. p. 693 of the Mirat el Kainat, that he also gave to his grandsons the names of 'Hasan, Hosein, and Mohassen,' on the ground that these names had the same meaning in Arabic which 'Shabbar, Shobeir, and Moshabber,' the (imaginary) names of the sons of Aaron, brother of Moses, had in Hebrew. As we are here told that Mohammed sought to establish a connecting link between himself and Aaron and Moses by giving to his grandsons Arabic names whose meaning he derived from Hebrew, the supposition is plainly not outside the bounds of probability, that he may also have wished to figure as the true 'Juda,' and the heir of the great promises attached to him, by appropriating to himself this Hebrew name in a suitable Arabic form. (Compare also the note on p. 81.)
SEC. II. 1.] BECOMES CHIEF OF THE BENI NAJJAR. 123

that Divine truth and pure religion were not the all-absorbing subject with him, and that he looked beyond them to something else, which made him both apprehensive and oppressive.

It is interesting, in this respect, to notice what Ibn Ishak narrates in connection with the death of Asad Ibn Zorara, also named Abu Umama. We must gather from the narrative that his death greatly alarmed Mohammed, on account of the effect he dreaded it might have on the opinion of the Jews concerning himself; and also that then already, only a few months after his arrival in Medina, when the mosque was not yet finished, unconvinced Arabs had cause hypocritically to simulate faith. The passage referred to, reports the following complaint from Mohammed's own mouth: 'Abu Umama's death is unfortunate in regard to the Jews and the hypocrites amongst the Arabs; for they will now say, if I were a Prophet, my companion would not have died, and they will believe that I can obtain nothing from God, either for myself or for my companions.'

But the death of his helpful friend led to a still more telling manifestation of the importance attached by Mohammed to worldly influence, and of the eagerness with which he snatched at secular power, as soon as his observant eye discovered the slightest chance. Ibn Ishak further states 'When Abu Umama had died, the Beni Najjar, whose chief he was, assembled before Mohammed and requested him to appoint for them a successor who might attend to their affairs, as he had done while alive. Mohammed answered them thus: "You are my maternal uncles, I belong to you, and I myself will be your chief."' Ibn Ishak palliates this step of his Prophet by saying, 'Mohammed acted thus, because he did not wish to place one of them above the other.' But the impartial reader cannot help perceiving that Mohammed, by considerately refusing to raise one of the Beni Najjar above the other, only raised himself above them all, and reduced them all equally to the position of subjects. The Beni Najjar could not decline their prophet's interested proposal, and in course of time counted it a special privilege to have had him for their peculiar chief.

Mohammed's eager haste thus to thrust himself into