“In the name of God, the Gracious, the Merciful.  A compact of peace from God and from Mahomet, the Prophet and Apostle of God, granted unto Yuhanna, son of Rubah, and unto the people of Eyla.  For them who remain at home and for those that travel by sea or by land, there is the guarantee of God and of Mahomet, the Apostle of God, and for all that are with them, whether of Syria or of Yeman, or of the Sea Coast.  Whoso contraveneth this treaty, his wealth shall not save him—­it shall be the fair prize of him that taketh it.  Now it shall not be lawful to hinder the men of Eyla from any springs which they have been in the habit of frequenting, nor from any journey they desire to make, whether by sea or by land.  The writing of Juheim and Sharrabil, by command of the Apostle of God.”

When this scanty document had been completed John of Eyla betook himself again to his own country, leaving Mahomet free to enter into further compacts with the Jews of Mauna, Adzuh, and Jaaba.  When these had been ratified and Mahomet had received tribute from the surrounding people, he set out again for Medina, having first made sure of Khalid’s success in Dumah, and receiving the conversion of the chief of that tribe with much gladness.

Now, departing to Medina confident in his success, it was with no good will that he entered its walls.  Many of his erstwhile followers, especially the tribes of Bedouins, had refused him their help upon this adventure, and, immediate danger being past, he returned to rend them in the fury of his eloquence.  His success had given him the right to chastise; even the Ansar were not exempt from his wrath.  Three who remained behind were proscribed, and compelled to fulfil fifty days of penance.

“Had there been a near advantage and a short journey, they would certainly have followed thee; but the way seemed long to them.  Yet they will swear by God, ’Had we been able we had surely gone forth with you; they are self-destroyers!  And God knoweth that they are surely liars!’”

Before he had entered the city his anger was further provoked by the Beni Ganim, who had erected a mosque, ostensibly out of piety, really to spite the Beni Amru ibn Auf and to make them jealous for their own mosque at Kuba, whose stones he had laid with his own hands.  He fell upon the Ganim, “some who have built a mosque for mischief,” and demolished the building.  Then he drew attention to their perfidy in the Kuran, and took care that there should be no more mosques built in the spirit of rivalry and envy.

Very little time after his return to Medina, Abdallah, leader of the Disaffected, his opponent and critic for so many years, died suddenly.  His death meant a great change in the position of his party.  There was no strong man to succeed Abdallah, and they found themselves without leader or policy.  They had for long been nominally allies of Mahomet, but had not scrupled under Abdallah’s leadership to question his authority by opposition and sometimes in open acts of war.  Abdallah’s death crushed for ever any attempts at revolt in Medina, and fused the Disaffected into the common stock of Believers.