The Chaliphate - Muir - The Search For Mecca

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A.D. 66i-8o] AFRICA AND GREECE 297
Tradition tells us of the miraculous flight of wild beasts and A.H. 40-60.
reptiles with their young from its site at the conqueror's
prayer ;
and also that the Berbers, convinced by the prodig}',
at once accepted Islam and settled themselves upon the
spot. But a few years later 'Okba was surprised by a Is defeated
joint Roman and Berber army, and miserably perished with ""^ ^'"' ^
his whole army.^ The Muslims were driven back on Barka.
On the side of Armenia and Greece, hostilities, Hostilities
'^ Greece.
suspended during the contest with 'All, were resumed by
Mu'awiya at its close, and we read of a serious defeat
sustained by the Greeks, 42 A.M. The Muslim army
wintered in Armenia, and the campaign was prosecuted
both by sea and land. In 50 A.H. a formidable expedition Au-ick on
was directed against Constantinople. The army suffered no°"e^^"^''
severely from want of provisions, and sickness ;
and Mu'awiya
sent his pleasure-loving son Yezid, much against his will, to
join the army with large reinforcements. The force landed
near Constantinople, the safety of which is ascribed by some
to the use of Greek fire, discovered about the time. There
was much fighting, and the Muslim loss was heavy. But
misfortune notwithstanding, efforts against the city were
not abandoned. We read of almost yearly expeditions,
and in 53 A.H., the island of Cyzicus near Constantinople
was seized and held by a Muslim garrison for seven years
but the position was abandoned by Yezid on his father's
death.
In the Grecian campaign a famous Companion, Abu Death of
Eivub, was killed under the walls of Constantinople, where '^*j" K'yub
'
.
'
^"Q other
. .
his tomb was tended and visited by pilgrims for ages. He Comwas
the same who entertained the Prophet in his house P^"'°y^ t a[so 01
for the first half-year after his arrival at Medina,- Early 'Aishu and
memories are also recalled by the death of Al-Arkam, whose Mohammad
abode—thence called " the house of Islam " —was the resort of
Mohammad and his followers when he first began his
teaching at Mecca.'^ iXbout the same time also we read of the
death of 'Aisha, nearly seventy )-ears of age, and of four other
of the " Mothers of the Faithful," also advanced in years.*
;
'
See p. 341.
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Life of MohaDiDutd^ ]>, 170 f.
^ Ibid., pp. 63, 91.
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Safiya, Juweiriya, Um Salama, and Um Habiba.