In his fortieth year (a.d. 610), he received the call of Gabriel, the archangel at the right hand
of God, who announced the birth of the Saviour to the Virgin Mary. The first revelation was made
to him in a trance in the wild solitude of Mount Hirâ, an hour’s walk from Mecca. He was directed
"to cry in the name of the Lord." He trembled, as if something dreadful had happened to him, and
hastened home to his wife, who told him to rejoice, for he would be the prophet of his people. He
waited for other visions; but none came. He went up to Mount Hirâ again—this time to commit
suicide. But as often as he approached the precipice, he beheld Gabriel at the end of the horizon
saying to him: "I am Gabriel, and thou art Mohammed, the prophet of God. Fear not!" He then
commenced his career of a prophet and founder of a new religion, which combined various elements
of the three religious represented in Arabia, but was animated and controlled by the faith in Allah,
as an almighty, ever-present and working will. From this time on, his life was enacted before the
eyes of the world, and is embodied in his deeds and in the Koran.
The revelations continued from time to time for more than twenty years. When asked how
they were delivered to him, he replied (as reported by Ayesha): "Sometimes like the sound of a
bell—a kind of communication which was very severe for me; and when the sounds ceased, I found
myself aware of the instructions. And sometimes the angel would come in the form of a man, and
converse with me, and all his words I remembered."
After his call, Mohammed labored first for three years among his family and friends, under
great discouragements, making about forty converts, of whom his wife Chadijah was the first, his
father-in-law, Abu Bakr, and the young, energetic Omar the most important. His daughter Fatima,
his adopted son Alî, and his slave Zayd likewise believed in his divine mission. Then he publicly
announced his determination to assume by command of God the office of prophet and lawgiver,
preached to the pilgrims flocking to Mecca, attacked Meccan idolatry, reasoned with his opponents,
answered their demand for miracles by producing the Koran "leaf by leaf," as occasion demanded,
and provoked persecution and civil commotion. He was forced in the year 622 to flee for his life
with his followers from Mecca to Medina (El-Medina an-Nabî, the City of the Prophet), a distance
of two hundred and fifty miles North, or ten days’ journey over the sands and rocks of the desert.
This flight or emigration, called Hégira or Hidshra, marks the beginning of his wonderful
success, and of the Mohammedan era (July 15, 622). He was recognized in Medina as prophet and
lawgiver. At first he proclaimed toleration: "Let there be no compulsion in religion;" but afterwards
he revealed the opposite principle that all unbelievers must be summoned to Islâm, tribute, or the
sword. With an increasing army of his enthusiastic followers, he took the field against his enemies,
gained in 624 his first victory over the Koreish with an army of 305 (mostly citizens of Medina)
against a force twice as large, conquered several Jewish and Christian tribes, ordered and watched
in person the massacre of six hundred Jews in one day,^156 while their wives and children were sold
into slavery (627), triumphantly entered Mecca (630), demolished the three hundred and sixty idols
of the Kaaba, and became master of Arabia. The Koreish were overawed by his success, and now
shouted: "There is but one God, and Mohammed is his prophet." The various tribes were melted
into a nation, and their old hereditary feuds changed into a common fanatical hatred of the infidels,
as the followers of all other religions were called. The last chapter of the Koran commands the
remorseless extermination of all idolaters in Arabia, unless they submit within four months.
(^156) So Sprenger,III. 221. Others give seven hundred and ninety as the number of Jews who were beheaded in a ditch.