agreed to go on with him; and only two afterwards remained behind, because they were detained, as we are told, by a search for their camel, which had happened to go astray.

When the party had reached Nakhla, and was lying in ambush, a small caravan of the Koreish, headed by Amr Ibn el Hadhrami, was passing by, carrying dried grapes, leather, and other goods. In order to remove their suspicion, one of the Moslems had his head shaven, thus giving his party the appearance of pilgrims to the sacred shrine, of whom nothing was to be feared. It being the last day of Rejeb, the Moslems thus deliberated in their council: 'If we let the caravan alone this night, it will enter the sacred territory and be safe there; but if we attack them now, we shall commit murder in the sacred month.' At first they felt afraid and hesitated; but soon they took courage and 'decided to kill as many of the caravan as they could and to seize upon the goods.' In the attack which ensued, the leader of the caravan was shot dead with an arrow, two of his men made prisoners, the rest dispersed, and the spoil taken in triumph to Medina. Abd Allah apportioned a fifth of the booty to the prophet who had sent him, and only retained four-fifths for himself and party: this at a time when such a distribution had not yet been enacted as a Moslem law.

This violation of the sacred month was having a very unfavourable effect amongst the people; and Mohammed noticing this, became afraid, and at first disavowed the action of his emissaries. In consequence, these showed great discouragement, feeling sure that in what they had done they had but carried out their instructions. The prophet observing this, and rightly gauging the true character of the people of Medina, discovered a ready means of extricating himself from this novel difficulty. God had to come to his aid, favouring him with the following revelation: 'They question thee about the lawfulness of war in the holy month. Say, a war in the holy month is a serious matter; but obstructing the way of God and unbelief, and debarring from the sacred place of worship and expelling its people therefrom, is still more serious before God. Tempting to apostasy is more serious than murder' (Sura ii. 214). Ibn Ishak thus interprets this verse: 'If you make war in the holy month, they

kept you from the way of God, are unbelievers and debar you from the holy temple, having chased you from it, you who are its guardians. This is more serious before God than the death of some men whom ye killed.' The effect of this opportune revelation he makes known in the following words: 'After God had delivered the believers from their fear, by this revelation, Mohammed took his share of the spoil and of the prisoners. When the Koreish sent to Mohammed to redeem the two prisoners, he said, "I shall not give them up until my two companions, Saad and Otba, about whom we are concerned, come back: if you kill them, we shall also kill your prisoners." As soon as Saad and Otba had returned, Mohammed accepted the redemption-money and set the two prisoners free. One of them turning a good Mussulman remained with him; and the other returned to Mecca and died there an unbeliever.' Ibn Hisham observes that the said two men were the first prisoners taken by the Moslems, the spoil of Nakhla their first booty, and Amr el Hadhrami the first man killed by them.

Nice first-fruits these, which ushered in so abundant a harvest! As with a beast of prey, when it has once tasted blood, so also with the Moslems, this first success only stimulated their desire for further acts of violence, unchecked and unabashed by the stinging reproach of the Koreish: 'Mohammed and his companions have desecrated the holy month by shedding blood, seizing goods, and making captives in it.'

The opportunity of making a decided step onward in the path of bloodshed and plunder, now fairly entered upon, had not long to be waited for. The large caravan, consisting of a thousand camels, laden with costly merchandise and guarded by only two or three score of men, which Mohammed had in vain tried to intercept at Osheira, on its way to Syria, was now returning home under the leadership of Abu Sofyan. This presented an opportunity far too attractive for the Prophet, not to make a fresh attempt at securing so rich a booty. As soon as the information reached him that Abu Sofyan was approaching, he called 'the believers' together, and said to them, 'There comes a caravan of the Koreish laden with goods; march out to meet them, perhaps God will give them to you for a prey.' They considered the prospect