The Chaliphate - Muir - The Search For Mecca

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CHAPTER III
MEDINA THREATENED
II A.H. 632 A.D.
In after days Abu Bekr was used to look back with just Effect of Abu
pride upon havins?- despatched Usama's force the uni- ^^^^^ .
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... action
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iv.-v.
versal reclamation notwithstanding. Public opinion was n a.h.
not lonij in justify inc: the act. His bold front struck the J""^-J"b'
^ > / fc>
632 A.D.
Bedawin mind with the stability of his rule. If the leaders
at Medina had not been confident in strength at home they
would not have sent away their army; and the Arabs
reasoning thus, were restrained from much that they might
otherwise hav^e done. Still the position was critical, and
at times alarming.
It was indeed a thing for the brave old Caliph to be iiis
proud of "The Arabs," we read, "were on all sides rising I'ourag^eous
in rebellion. Apostasy and disaffection raised their heads
Christians and Jews began to stretch out their necks ; and
the Faithful were as a flock of sheep without a shejiherd,
their Prophet gone, their numbers few, their foes a
multitude." In face of all this Abu Bekr had sent away
beyond recall his onl}- force, and left Medina open and
apparently defenceless.
There was danger all around, for towards the close of insuirection
Mohammad's life, three rivals, incited by the success of ^hr^i'ghout
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.Arabia.
Mohammad, laid claim to the prophetic office, and had
already raised the standard of rebellion. In the south,
insurrection was hardly quelled by the death of the " Veiled
Prophet" of the Yemen,^ when, on tidings of the decease
of Mohammad, it burst forth again with redoubled violence.
Northwards in the centre of the Peninsula, INIuseiiima had
^
Life of Mohammad, p. 47S f.