Page:History of Mahomet, that grand impostor.pdf/20

 Mahometans concerning their Sonna, in which all the acts and sayings of Mahomet, relating to his religion, are recorded and commented upon, which books make up the whole of their theology, as well speculative as practical.

Tho’ the publication of the above mentioned fiction considerably weakened Mahomet’s party in and about Mecca; and several of them for some practices against the government, were forced to fly into Ethiopia, yet these losses were soon compensated by the proselytes which he gained at Medina, which was inhabited partly by Jews, and partly by Christians, who persecuted one another with great violence; and one of the contending parties, in order to strengthen themselves, fell in with Mahomet, and it is generally supposed to be the Christians, from the kindness that the impostor shewed at first to the professors of Christianity, and his very barbarous and inhumane treatment of the Jews. But be that as it may, in the thirteenth year of Mahomet’s pretended mission, there came seventy-three men and two women from Medina to Mahomet at Mecca, and embraced his religion; out of which number he chose twelve, and having given them proper instructions, sent them back again to their own country to propagate his doctrine; in which they laboured with such success, that they soon brought over great part of the inhabitants.

At the same time, Mahomet and his followers at Mecca, met with nothing but opposition and discouragement, and the government of that city, looked upon the impostor with such a jealous eye, that a design was actually laid to have prised