Page:The history of medieval Europe.djvu/210

 174 THE HISTORY OF MEDIEVAL EUROPE ers hold that he was always faithful to his first wife, and that of the dozen or more wives whom he had in his later years some were widows of his dead warriors whom he married to protect, while others were married to cement political alli- ances or in the hope of securing an heir to succeed him. It was not until he was about forty years old that the "dreamer of the desert" began his prophetic seances and His teaching religious teaching. After four years he had won beforethe about thirty converts. Few of his early revela- Hegira tions are preserved in the Koran ; his teaching at first was private and most of his converts were slaves and lowly persons. When these were ill-treated by the other Meccans, they fled to Abyssinia, but Mohammed's influen- tial kinsmen continued to afford him protection. Near Mecca was held annually a festival which crowds of pil- grims attended, and in Mohammed's time they also came into Mecca to visit the "Cube" (Kaaba), a building of that shape containing various sacred objects, images, and paint- ings. To these pilgrims Mohammed often preached, but without much success until finally some men from Medina were impressed by his teaching and offered a refuge to him and his followers. Medina was torn by the feuds of Jewish tribes and was ready to welcome a leader from outside. Accordingly, in 622 occurred the flight, or Hegira, of Mo- hammed and his followers from Mecca to Medina, an event from which the Mohammedan world dates its era. The Mohammedan year, as later decreed by the prophet, con- sists of twelve lunar months, or only three hundred and fifty-four days. Mam is the Arabic name for the religion founded by Mo- hammed, and his followers called themselves Muslimin, or ItUm Moslems. Both words carry the idea of surrender. His ideal was submission to the divine will and a brotherhood of equals, within which there should be no dissension or injury. His early teachings emphasized that there is only one God, "the merciful, the compassionate," and that before every man lies a day of reckoning and final judgment. He attacked idolatry. He believed in the exist-