230 LIFE OF MOHAMMED. 



and henceforth all true Mussulmans were com 

 manded, from whatever quarter they might come, to 

 turn their faces to the Haram, or Holy Temple ol 

 Mecca. In order to silence heretics and revilers, 

 whose objections had so teased and perplexed him 

 at his outset, Mohammed resolved to interdict in 

 future the presumption of doubting his mission, or 

 disputing about his religion. Death was the award 

 in the Koran for all who should dare to contradict 

 or oppose any of the doctrines he taught. Fighting 

 and not controversy was now to be the only legiti- 

 mate mode of propagating the true faith ; and its 

 opponents, of whatever creed, must either beheve 

 at the point of the lance, or redeem their lives by 

 submitting to pay an annual tax for their infidelity. 



The enthusiasm of the Arabs v/as thus doubly 

 inflamed, by the hope of plunder and the promise of 

 a sensual paradise. The decrees of an absolute fate, 

 which would extinguish both industry and valour if 

 men were left to the influence of a merely specula- 

 tive belief, were dexterously turned into instruments 

 for inspiring the disciples of the Koran with the 

 most exalted and reckless courage. The compan- 

 ions of the Prophet advanced to battle without fear. 

 As nothing was left to chance, there was no room 

 for danger or dismay. The same inevitable destiny 

 that might have ordained them to perish in their 

 beds, would not overtake them a moment sooner on 

 the field of death, or render their persons more inse- 

 cure amid the arrows of the enemy. The lot of all 

 was determined by a fixed and resistless predestina- 

 tion; with this diff"erence, that while the man of 

 peace departed obscure and inglorious, the fallen 

 warrior had before his eyes the crown of martyrdom 

 and the joys of paradise. " The sword," exclaimed 

 the military apostle, " is the key of heaven and of 

 hell ! A drop of blood shed in the cause of God, a 

 night spent in arms, is of more avail than two 

 months' fasting or prayer. Whoever falls m battle. 



