The Chaliphate - Muir - The Search For Mecca

:
A.D. 635-6] TRIUAL REGISTER 149
brotherhood, is a spectacle probably without parallel in the A.H. 14-15.
world. The distinction also of early conversion was well
conceived. In no other way could the susceptibilities of
tribal rivalry have been reconciled. The proud chiefs of
Koreish, who did not join the Prophet till after the fall of
Mecca, refused any allowance but the highest "
: We know
of none nobler than ourselves," they said ;
" and less than
'*
other we will not take." Not so," answered 'Omar "
; I
give it by priority of faith, and not for noble birth." " It
is well," the)' replied ;
and no reason but this would have
satisfied them. There were two further sources of danger
first, the rivalry between the Bedawi tribes and the " Companions"
or men of Mecca and Medina; and, second, the
jealousies that sprang up between the house of Hashim
(the Prophet's kinsman) on the one hand, and the Umeiyads
and other branches of Koreish on the other ;— jealousies
which by and by developed into larger proportions, and
threatened the very existence of the Caliphate ; but which,
held in check by 'Omar, were now for a time allayed by
assuming an acknowledged test as the ground of precedence.
The blue blood of Arabia was universally recognised as Arabs the
the aristocracy of the Muslim world. Rank and stipend of'^f^^^J^^.
now assigned, and even rewards for special gallantry in the Hm world,
field, descended by inheritance. Implied in this inheritance
was the continuing obligation to fight for the Faith : by it
martial genius was maintained, and employment perpetuated
for the standing army of the Caliphate. A nation composed
thus of ennobled soldiery, pampered, factious and turbulent,
formed too often a dangerous element of sedition and intrigue.
But, nevertheless, it was the real backbone of Islam, the
secret of conquest, the stay of the Caliphate. Crowded
harims multiplied the race with marvellous rapidity. The
progeny of the Arab sire (whatever the mother) was kept
sedulously distinct, so as never to mingle with the conquered
races. Wherever Arabs went they formed a class apart
and dominant,—the nobles and rulers of the land. Subject
peoples, even if they embraced Islam, were of a lower caste
;
they could aspire to nothing higher than, as " clients " of some
Arab chief or tribe, to court patronage and protection. Thus
the Arabians set themselves apart, as a nation militant,
fur the sacred task of propagating Islam. Even after the