Studies in a Mosque - The Search For Mecca

74 STUDIES IN A MOSQUE.
It was thus that Mohammad entered again his
native cit3^ Through all the annals of conquest,
there is no triumphal entry like this.
The taking of Mekka was soon followed by the
adhesion of all Arabia. Every reader knows the
story of the spread of Islam. The tribes of every
part of the peninsula sent embassies to do homage to
the Prophet. Arabia was not enough : the Prophet
had written in his bold uncompromising way to the
great Kings of the East, to the Persian Khusrii, and
the Greek Emperor ; and these little knew how soon
his invitation to the faith would be repeated, and how
quickly Islam would be knocking at their doors with
no faltering hand.
The Prophet's career was near its end. In the
tenth year of the Flight, twenty years after he had
first felt the Spirit move him to preach to his people,
he resolved once more to leave his adopted city and
go to Mekka to perform a farewell pilgrimage. And
when the rites were done in the valley of Mina, the
Prophet spoke unto the multitude—the forty thousand
pilgrims—with solemn last words.*
" Ye People ! Hearken
to my words ; for I know
not whether after this year I shall ever be amongst
you here again.
"Your Lives and your Property are sacred and
inviolable amongst one another until the end of time.
" The Lord hath ordained to every man the share
* The following is an abridgment : cp. Muir 485, and the
" Siret-er-Easiil," tr. Weil, ii. 316, 317.