warriors, including 300 clad in armour, who have often protected me against the red and against the black: them thou mayest not cut off in one morning; for, by Allah! I apprehend a change of fortune." Thereupon Mohammed said, "Well, I will grant them to thee."' Thus it is seen that it required all the importunities of Abd Allah, who was looked upon by Mohammed as a hypocrite, to keep the sanctimonious Prophet from crowning his violence against the Keinokas by massacring them in cold blood. Their lives were spared, but their houses and goods, including their arms and suits of armour, were seized as prey, and they themselves, with women and children, expelled the country. Obada was commissioned by Mohammed to superintend and expedite their departure. They went first to Wadi el Kora where the Jewish inhabitants assisted them, and then proceeded further, to settle in Syria.

A beginning had now been made by Mohammed to carry out his plan of pushing the Jews out of the way, so as to establish himself in their stead, and to increase his power with their spoil. After the expulsion of the Keinoka, he at once cast his longing eyes on the rich palm-plantations of the Beni Nadhir, but a short distance from the city. They boasted of a sacerdotal descent, and lived together by themselves in a comely suburb, fortified by a number of strong towers. One of their more influential Rabbis was Kab Ibn Ashraf who had looked favourably upon Mohammed, till he changed the Kibla from Jerusalem to Mecca. Then he became his decided opponent, attacking him and his religion in verse, and working against him in various ways. He was to fall first as a victim to Mohammed's vindictiveness. The Prophet despatched four men, amongst them Kab's own foster-brother, to assassinate him, and sanctioned beforehand any lie or stratagem which they might see fit to employ, so as to lure him aside. It was dark when they arrived at his house, and he was already in bed; but they cunningly prevailed upon him to come out to them, and when they had him alone in the dark, they foully murdered him. Mohammed remained up, to await their return; and when they showed him Kab's head, he commended their deed, and praised Allah. But on the

following morning, when the assassination had become generally known, the Jews, as Ibn Ishak informs us, were struck with terror, and none of them regarded his life safe any longer.

The blow intended for the whole Nadhir tribe did not delay many months. One day Mohammed, with a considerable suite, including Abu Bekr, Omar, and Ali, appeared amongst the Beni Nadhir, for the ostensible purpose of asking them to contribute their share towards the blood-money which had to be paid to a confederate tribe, because some of their men had been wrongfully slain by a Moslem. The Beni Nadhir received the party with marked respect, promised ready compliance with their request, and hospitably invited them to a repast. On account of the heat, they were sitting in the open air, Mohammed leaning his back against the wall of a house. After a while, he suddenly rose and walked away, without saying a word. He was expected to return directly; but as he delayed, his friends looked after him, and found that he had returned to the city. They followed him; and he told them that the cause of his sudden departure was an intimation he had received from heaven, that one of the Jews was going to ascend the roof of the house, beneath which they were sitting, to throw down a stone upon him. Unlikely as it is that the Jews meditated such a step under such circumstances, it is quite possible that the dastardly assassination of Kab now weighed on Mohammed's conscience, and engendered in him the fear which he expressed in language, adapted to his prophetic character. Judging others by himself, he could not but dread vengeance, from the hand of those who had suffered from his treachery and violence.

The preconceived plan, which the story about the intended stone-throwing had to justify, was now at once carried out. Mohammed collected his followers, and marched with them against the Beni Nadhir, who barricaded themselves in their houses and towers. When they showed no signs of surrender, after a siege of six days, but still valiantly defended themselves with arrows and stones, Mohammed had recourse to a barbarous measure, contrary to the Arab usages of war, and expressly forbidden