Page:William Muir, Thomas Hunter Weir - The Caliphate; Its Rise, Decline, and Fall (1915).djvu/61

 34 again pursued and put utterly to the sword. The spoil was prodigious, and so was the multitude of women and children taken captive.

On the Prophet's death tradition ceases to indulge in the miraculous; but this expedition forms a singular exception. As the column marching from Medīna reached the waterless zone of Dahnā, it had nearly perished by long-protracted thirst; when in the last extremity, water suddenly shining in the horizon man and beast hurried joyfully on to slake their thirst at an extensive lake. No spring had been ever seen in that wilderness before; nor was the miraculous lake ever found again. Shortly after, while pursuing the apostate host to the isle of Dārīn, a second miracle parted the waves, and the Muslims after a wild invocation of the Deity, rushed on and crossed the strait, as it had been a shallow beach. A pious bard has likened the passage to that of the Israelites through the Red Sea, and a monk is said to have been converted by the double miracle of waters breaking out in the wilderness, and waters drying up in the channel of the great deep.

While thus engaged, Al-ʿAlā received material help from loyal followers along the coast. Amongst those who aided in this work was Al-Muthanna, a chief of great influence amongst the Bekr clans; following up the victory of Al-ʿAlā along the Persian Gulf, this warrior in his progress from Hejer northwards, reached at last the delta of the Euphrates, where he inaugurated a fresh movement that will shortly engage attention.

The reduction of the important province of ʿOmān followed close on that of Al-Baḥrein. Its Prince had recently tendered allegiance to Moḥammad. ʿAmr was thereupon deputed as Resident, and the tithes were, by reason of the distance, given up to the local poor. Notwithstanding this concession, Moḥammad was no sooner dead than the people, led by a rebel who claimed to be a prophet, rebelled. The Prince fled to the mountains, and ʿAmr to Medīna. The task of reclaiming ʿOmān and the adjoining province of Mahra was committed by Abu Bekr to Ḥodheifa, a convert of influence in those parts. He was assisted by ʿIkrima, sent, as we have seen by Abu Bekr, to retrieve his reputation in this distant quarter. Arrived in ʿOmān, they