74 DESTINY DISRUPTED
have healed the blind and raised the dead. Moses may have turned a staff
into a snake and led an exodus for which the Red Sea parted. Visible mira-
des of this ilk proved the divinity or divine sponsorship of those prophets.
Mohammed, however, never really dealt in supernatural miracles such
as those. He never solicited followers with displays of power that contra-
dicted the laws of nature. His one supernatural feat, really, was ascending
to heaven on a white horse from the city of Jerusalem, and this was not a
miracle performed for the multitudes. It happened to him unseen by any
public, and he reported it later to his companions. People could believe
him or not, as they wished; it didn't impact his mission, because he wasn't
offering his ascent to heaven as proof that his message was true.
No, Mohammed's miracle (aside from the Qur'an itself and the persuasive
impact it had on so many who heard it) was that Muslims won battles even
when outnumbered three to one. This miracle continued to unfold under the
first khalifas as Muslim-ruled territory kept expanding at a breathtaking pace,
and what could explain success like that except divine intervention?
The miracle continued under the Umayyads. The victories didn't come
as fast, nor as dramatically, but then, the opportunity for truly dramatic
victories diminished over time simply because Muslims rarely found them-
selves as outnumbered as they were at first. The bottom line was that the
victories kept coming and the territory kept expanding-it never shrank.
So long as this was true, perpetual war continued to confirm the truth of
Islam, which fed the fervor that enabled the victories, which confirmed the
truth that fed the fervor, which enabled the victories that confirmed the
truth ... and so on, round and round.
Perpetual war had some tangible benefits too. It brought in revenue. As
Muslims told it, some Allah-defying potentate would tax his subjects until
his coffers were overflowing; then the Muslims would appear, knock him
off his throne, liberate his subjects from his greed, and take his treasures.
This made the liberated people happy and the Muslims rich: everybody
ended up ahead except the defeated princes.
One-fifth of the plunder was sent back to the capital, and at first all of
it was distributed among the Umma, with the neediest taken care of first.
But with each khalifa, an increasing percentage went into the public trea-
sury; when the Umayyads took over, they started funneling virtually all
revenue into the public treasury and using it to cover the costs of govern-