116 Specimen of a Poetical Summary of History. 



Yet destined thou ; her web the spider throws 

 To skreen Thor's sheltering cave from prying foes ;3 

 And e'en thy flight* shall mark the date of time 

 Through many an age and many a distant clime, 

 Medina,5 Ansars, Beder drench in gore 

 Thy Mohagerian's Mecca to restore. 



At length 'tis entered — Caaba's fal)led faneS 

 Must Kebla of the Moslem's prayer remain. 

 Islam7 prevails — through broad Arabia now 

 Vanquished in Honain's flight her idols bow ; 

 Through poison drains th' impostor prophet's life.s 

 Still wide and wider spreads the victor strife 



CONQUESTS OF SYRIA, PERSIA, AND EGYF1\ 



Khaled the sword of God triumphant wields 

 O'er Balbek's sands, and Syria's wasted fields ;9 



small, the earliest and most distinguished were his freedman, Zeid, his cousin AH, 

 son of Abu Taleb, and his constant friend, Abubeker. The rest of his tribe resisted 

 and expelled him from Mecca. 



3 While he fled from Mecca, pursued by his enemies, he took shelter with his 

 friend and only attendant, Abubeker, in the cavern of Thor. It is stated, that soon 

 after he had entered, a spider spun her web across the opening : his pursuers were 

 deceived by this accident, concluding that no one could recently have disturbed the 

 solitude ; they therefore passed onwards, and missed their intended prey. 



■* This flight of Mahomet forms the great epoch of the Hejira, adopted by all 

 Mahometan nations ; it corresponds with 622 of our ocra. 



6 At Medina, to which city Mahomet now retired, his cause was embraced by a 

 considerable party ; these were called Ansars — auxiliaries ; the fugitives from Mecca 

 were denominated Mohagerians. A warfare ensued between these allies of Mahomet 

 and the Koreish of Mecca ; it was protracted for about six years. At Beder one of 

 the earliest and most distinguished battles was fought. 



6 The Caaba was the ancient national temple of Mecca. When Mahomet and his 

 followers undertook the siege of Mecca, he was permitted under a truce to enter this 

 temple to offer sacrifice. During this visit he won many of the Koreish to his cause ; 

 and the partizans of idolatry, now reduced to a minority, were soon after obliged to 

 yield to him the town. He adopted their long venerated temple as the holiest spot 

 of his new faith, and appointed it as the kebla or point towards which every Maho- 

 metan offers his devotion : this took place in 629. 



7 Islam is the general donomination of the Mahometan faith. After the submis- 

 sion of Mecca, many of the other Arabian tribes still retained their idolatry and 

 hostility to Mahomet. What was called the war of idols ensued, which was ter- 

 minated by the decisive victory of the pseudo-prophet at Honain, in 632. All Arabia 

 then yielded to his creed. 



8 Soon after this decisive success, the victor's life sunk under a lingering illness, 

 said to have been occasioned by poison administered by a Jewess. 



9 Even before his death, his generals had invaded the Syrian province of the 

 eastern empire. Khaled, the chief of these, was called the Sword of God ; he carried 

 victory from the Red Sea to the Euphrates. Jerusalem was captured by the second 

 caliph, Omar, 637. 



