The Chaliphate - Muir - The Search For Mecca

"
them in no friendly humour. " The father of the foal !
20 ABU BEKR [chap. v.
A.H. n. Of the doctrines of Toleiha, and the other pretenders to
prophetic office, we know little ;
nor indeed anything at all
Toleii7a~
to show wherein the secret of their influence lay. So far
as appears, their worship was a mere travesty of Islam.
Some doggerel verses and childish sayings are all that the
contemptuous voice of tradition has transmitted of their
teaching. That four Pretenders (for Sajah the Prophetess
was also such) should just then have arisen in different parts
of Arabia and drawn multitudes after them, would seem to
imply something deeper than senseless rhymes, and more
specious than petty variations of the Muslim rite. It is not
unreasonable to assume that the spiritual sense of Arabia
had been quickened by the preaching of Mohammad, and
that his example had both suggested the claims of others,
Bedawin and contributed thus rapidly to their success. Jealousy
jealousy of
^j- ]y[gcca and Medina, moreover, and impatience of the
'
Mecca and
_
.
r i i -
Medina. trammels of Islam, were powerful mcentives for the Bedawin
. tribes to cast in their lot with these Pretenders. Thus the
Beni Ghatafan who aforetime were in league with the Beni
Asad, had recently fallen out with them and lost some
pasture-land. 'Oyeina their chief now counselled a return
to their old relations; "Let us go back," he said, "to the
ancient alliance which before Islam we had with the Beni
Asad, for never since we gave it up have I known our
pasture boundaries. A Prophet of our own is better than
a Prophet of Koreish. Beside all this, Mohammad is dead
and Toleiha is alive." So saying, 'Oyeina with 700 of his
warriors joined Toleiha and his army at Al-Buzakha.
Beni Tai' On first hearing of Toleiha's heresy, Mohammad had sent
reclaimed.
an Envoy to rally the faithful amongst the Beni Asad and
thus crush the Pretender. But the cause gaining ground,
was now supported by the neighbouring Beni Tai', as well as
by insurgents who flocked to Toleiha after their defeat at
Rabadha ;
and so the Envoy had to fly. The great family
of Tai', hov/ever, was not wholly disloyal, for (as above
mentioned) the legal dues had been already presented to
Abu Bekr on behalf of some of them. 'AdI their loyal
chief was therefore now sent forward by Khalid in the hope
of detaching his people from Toleiha's cause. He found
they cried (such was the sobriquet they contemptuously