He will not suffer thy foot to be moved; he that keepeth thee will
    not slumber.

    Behold, he that keepeth Israel shall neither slumber nor sleep.

    The Lord is thy keeper; the Lord is thy shade upon thy right hand.

    The sun shall not smite thee by day, nor the moon by night.

    The Lord shall preserve thee from all evil; he shall preserve thy
    soul.

    The Lord shall preserve thy going out and thy coming in from this
    time forth, and even for evermore.

CHAPTER XIX.

THE BATTLE OF OHOD.

    “Dost thou not know the fate of soldiers? 
    They’re but Ambition’s tools, to cut a way
    To her unlawful ends.”

—­Southern.

While these events had been taking place in the North, Henda had given Abu Sofian little peace, urging him every day to pay the dues of blood-revenge for her relatives, and taunting him with cowardice in his long delay.

At length, in the third year of the Hegira he gathered a considerable army, and with three thousand men of the Koreish tribe, among whom were two hundred horsemen, left Mecca, accompanied by Henda and fifteen of the matrons of Mecca bearing timbrels and singing war-like chants.

The whole army advanced with the intention of besieging Medina, but Mohammed’s men entreated him to let them encounter Abu Sofian outside of the city, and he yielded to their entreaties.  With only one thousand men,[10] fifty of whom were chosen archers, the prophet took up his stand on a declivity of Mount Ohod, about six miles north of the city.  There, on its black and barren slope, he divided his army into four parts, three of which bore sacred banners, while the great standard was placed before Mohammed himself.

In order to imbue his men with courage, he came out in full view of the whole army, and, in a loud voice that penetrated even the farthest ranks, gave promise of victory.  Then, for the sake of those who should be killed in battle, he expatiated upon the delights of that Paradise which surely awaited all who should be slain in the cause, representing it such a paradise as would be peculiarly adapted to the tastes and stimulating to the imagination of the Arabs—­a race accustomed to arid wastes, burning sands, and glaring skies; a paradise of green fields and flowery gardens cooled by innumerable rivers and sparkling fountains, which glittered from between shaded bowers inter-woven with perfumed flowers.  He gave them promise of streams literally flowing with milk and clearest honey; of trees bending with fruit which should be handed down by houris of wondrous beauty; he told them of treasures of gold, silver, and jewels.  “They shall dwell in gardens of delight, reposing on couches adorned with gold and precious stones....  Upon them shall be garments of fine green silk and brocades, and they shall be adorned with bracelets of silver, and they shall drink of a most pure liquor—­a cup of wine mixed with the water of Zenjebil, a fountain in Paradise named Salsabil.”