LIFE OF MOHAMMED. 227 



bling A bu Beker, who had shed many bitter tears at 

 the desperate fortunes of his master. " There is a 

 third," repUed the undaunted prophet, — " It is God 

 himself." A cherished tradition of the Arabs has 

 invented a providential deceit, which saved the fugi- 

 tives, — a pigeon's nest with two eggs, and a spider's 

 web drawn completely across the mouth of the pas- 

 sage. Convinced from these appearances that the 

 place was solitary and inviolate, the pursuers de- 

 sisted from all further examination. The virtues of 

 this miracle, Mohammed used to say, were better 

 than a coat of double armour in defending him from 

 the swords of his enemies.* 



The greatest impatience Avas manifested at Me- 

 dina for the coming of the prophet. At the suburbs 

 he was met by 500 of the inhabitants, who received 

 him with every possible demonstration of jo}^ Here 

 he was again joined by the faithful Ali, within three 

 days after his arrival. " The day of his entering the 

 to^\^l, which now changed its name of Yatreb for 

 that of Medina (or Medinat el Nebbi, the city of the 

 Prophet), is generally admitted to have been the 

 16th of Rebiah I., he "having left Mecca on the first 

 of that month.f 



* Al Damiri, in his History of Animals, assures us, that in 

 memory of this event, the pigeon was held sacred by the Mussul- 

 mans ; and that, for the same reason, Mohammed forbade the 

 killing of spiders. Some allege, that the fable of the pigeon 

 whispering revelations into his ear. to persuade his followers, as 

 the Christians relate, that he wasdivinelv inspired, took its ori- 

 gin from this circumstance. — Pococke, Spec. p. 186. Reland. de 

 Relig. Moharn. p. 359. Gagnier, La Vie de Mahom. p. 290. Gro- 

 tius, de Veritat. Relig. Christ. 



+ The departure of the prophet has fixed the memorable epoch 

 of the Hejira, or Flight, the era bv which the Mohammedan 

 nations still compute their lunar years. Like that of the Chris- 

 tians, It was not introduced until some time after the death of 

 Its founder. Its appomtment belongs to the Caliph Omar, who, 

 being appealed to in a controversy between a debtor and his cre- 

 ditor, the former allegmg that the month mentioned in the bill 

 did not belong to the current year, but to the following, and con- 



