[Illustration:  Mahomet, preaching the unity of God, enters Mecca at the head of his victorious followers

Painting by A. Mueller.]

Mahomet sent letters at the same time to the king of Ethiopia, who had before professed Islamism, and now in his answer repeated his profession of it.  He wrote to two other Arabian princes, who sent him disagreeable answers, which provoked him to curse them.  He sent also to Al Mondar, king of Bahrain, who came into his religion, and afterward routed the Persians and made a great slaughter of them.  And now all the Arabians of Bahrain had become converts to his religion.

Among the captives taken at Khaibar was Safia, betrothed to the son of Kenana, the king of the Jews.  Mahomet took the former to wife, and put Kenana to the torture to make him discover his treasure.  In the action at Khaibar, it is said, Ali, having his buckler struck out of his hand, took one of the gates off its hinges, and used it for a buckler till the place was taken.  The narrator of this story asserts that he and seven men tried to stir the gate, and were not able.

One of the articles of the peace being, that any Mussulman might be permitted to perform his pilgrimage at Mecca, the prophet went to that city to complete the visitation of the holy places, which he could not do as he intended when at Hodaiba.  Hearing, upon this occasion, the Meccans talking of his being weakened by the long marches he had made, to show the contrary, in going round the Kaaba seven times, he went the first three rounds in a brisk trot, shaking his shoulders the while, but performed the four last circuits in a common walking pace.  This is the reason why Mussulmans always perform seven circuits round the Kaaba in a similar manner.

In the eighth year of the Hegira, Kaled son of Al Walid, Amru son of Al As, and Othman son of Telha, who presided over the Kaaba, became Mussulmans; this was a considerable addition to Mahomet’s power and interest.  The same year Mahomet, having sent a letter to the governor of Bostra in Syria, as he had to others, and his messenger being slain there, sent Zaid, son of Hareth, with three thousand men to Muta in Syria, against the Roman army, which, with their allies, made a body of nearly one hundred thousand men.  Zaid being slain, the command fell to Jaafar, and, upon his death, to Abdallah son of Rawahas, who was also killed.[62] Thereupon the Mussulmans unanimously chose Kaled for their leader, who defeated the enemy, and returned to Medina with a considerable booty, on which account Mahomet gave him the title of the “Sword of God.”