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 362 THE DECLINE AND FALL vale of Beder,^^^ three stations from Medina, he was informed by his scouts of the caravan that approached on one side ; of the Koreish, one hundi'ed horse, eight hundred and fifty foot, who advanced on the other. After a short debate, he sacrificed the prospect of Avealth to the pursuit of gloiy and revenge ; and a sHght intrenchment was formed to cover his troops, and a Battle of stream of fresh water that gUded through the valley. " O God," 623 '" ' he exclaimed as the numbers of the Koreish descended from the hills, " O God, if these are destroyed, by whom wilt thou be worshipped on the earth .'' — Courage, my children ; close your ranks ; discharge your arrows, and the day is your own." At these words he placed himself, with Abubeker, on a throne or pulpit, ^•'^ and instantly demanded the succour of Gabriel and three thousand angels. His eye was fixed on the field of battle ; the Musulmans fainted and were pressed ; in that decisive moment the prophet started from his throne, mounted his horse, and cast a handful of sand into the air : "Let their faces be covered with confusion ". Both armies heard the thunder of his voice ; their fancy beheld the angelic warriors ; ^*^ the Koreish trembled and fled ; seventy of the bravest were slain ; and seventy captives adorned the first victory of the faithful. The dead bodies of the Koreish were despoiled and insulted ; two of the most obnoxious prisoners were punished with death ; and the ransom of the others, four thousand drachms of silver, compensated in some degree the escape of the caravan. But 1^ Beder Houneene, twenty miles from Medina and forty from Mecca, is on the high road of the caravan of Egypt ; and the pilgrims annually commemorate the prophet's victory by illuminations, rockets, &c. Shaw's Travels, p. 477. 1-'^ The place to which Mahomet retired during the action is styled by Gagnier (in Abulfeda, c. 27, p. 58 ; Vie de Mahomet, torn. ii. p. 30, 33), urnbraculum, une loge de bois avec une parte. The same Arabic word is rendered by Reiske (Annales Moslemici Abulfedae, p. 23) by solium, suggestus editior ; and the difference is of the utmost moment for the honour both of the interpreter and of the hero. I am sorry to observe the pride and acrimony with which Reiske chastises his fellow- labourer. Sagpe sic vertit, ut integrse paginae nequeant nisi una litura corrigi : Arabice non satis callebat et carebat judicio critico. J. J. Reiske, Prodidagmata ad Hagji Chalisae Tabulas, p. 228, ad calcem Abulfedas Syrias Tabulae; Lipsiae, T766, in 4to. [The place in question was a hut of palm branches, in which Mohammad and Abu Bekr slept on the night before the battle. Mohammad pro- bably took no part in the fighting, but directed and incited his men. He was not remarkable for physical courage, and never e.xposed himself needlessly to danger.] i-»o The loose expressions of the Koran (c. 3, p. 124, 125 ; c. 8, p. 9) allow the commentators to fluctuate between the numbers of 1000, 3000, or 9000 angels ; and the smallest of these might suffice for the slaughter of seventy of the Koreish (Maracci, Alcoran, tom. ii. p. 131). Yet the same scholiasts confess that this angelic band was not visible to any mortal eye (Maracci, p. 297). They refine on the words (c. 8, 16), "not thou, but God," &c. (D'Herbelot, Bibhot. Orientale, p. 600, 601).