Left without any supporters within the city, Mahomet was exposed to all the vituperations and insults which his recent refusal of compromise had brought him.  The Kureisch now directed all their energies towards persuading Abu Talib to repudiate his nephew.  If once this could be effected, the Kureisch would have a free hand to pursue their desire to exterminate the Muslim and to overthrow the Prophet’s power.  He was immune from bodily attack, chiefly because of Abu Talib’s position in the city as nominal head of the house of Hashim.  No Kureisch could run the risk of alienating so great a number of fellow-citizens, and a personal attack upon Abu Talib’s nephew could but have that result.

Dark and stormy as the Muslim destiny appeared during this period of transition from religious to political conceptions, nevertheless it was now enriched by the conversion of two of the most influential characters upon its later fortunes—­Hamza and Omar.  Many stories have been woven round their discovery of the truth of Islam, and by reading between the lines later commentators may discover the forces at work to induce them to take this dubious step.  It is beyond question that Mahomet’s personality was the moving factor in the conversion of each, for each relates an incident which serves peculiarly to illustrate the Prophet’s magnetism.

Hamza, “the lion of God,” and a son of Abd-al-Muttalib in his old age, was accosted by a slave girl as he passed on his way through the city She told him breathlessly that she had seen “the Lord Mahomet” insulted and reviled by Abu Jahl, and being unprotected and alone, he could only suffer in silence.  Hamza listened to her story with indignation, and determined to revenge the insult to his uncle and foster-brother, for by the ties of kinship they were one.  In the Kaaba he publicly declared his allegiance to Islam, and revenged upon Abu Jahl the injuries he had inflicted upon his kinsman.  Hamza never repented of his championship of Mahomet.  The adventurous fortunes of Islam satisfied his warrior-spirit, and under Mahomet’s guidance he helped to control and direct its military zeal, until it had perforce established its religion through the sword.  Mahomet’s personal magnetism had drawn him irresistibly to the religion he upheld so steadfastly, and in the face of revilement and danger.

Omar was Mahomet’s bitterest enemy, and had proved his ability by his persistent opposition to Islam.  He was feared by all the company of religionists that had taken up their precarious quarters near Mahomet.  He was visiting the house of his sister Fatima when he heard murmurs of someone reciting.  He inquired what it was, and learned with anger that it was the Sacred Book of the abhorred Muslim sect.  His sister and Zeid, her husband, tremblingly confessed their adherence to Islam, and awaited in terror the probable result.  Omar was about to fall upon Zeid, but his wife interposed and received the blow herself.  At the sight of his sister’s blood Omar paused and then asked for the volume, so that he might judge the message for himself, for he was a writer of no mean standing.  Fatima insisted that he should first perform ablutions, so that his touch might not defile the Sacred Book.