History of the Saracen Empire Author:Edward Gibbon General Books publication date: 2009 Original publication date: 1870 Original Publisher: A. Murray Subjects: Caliphs Islamic Empire History / Middle East / General Religion / Islam / General Religion / Islam / History Social Science / Islamic Studies Notes: This is a black and white OCR reprint of the original. It has no illus... more »trations and there may be typos or missing text. When you buy the General Books edition of this book you get free trial access to Million-Books.com where you can select from more than a million books for free. Excerpt: 30 FLIGHT OF MAHOMET FROM MECCA TO MEDINA. The religion of the Koran might have perished in its cradle, had not Medina (a. d. 622) embraced with faith and reverence the holy outcasts of Mecca. Medina, or the city, known under the name of Yathreb, before it was sanctified by the throne of the prophet, was divided between the tribes of the Charegites and the Awsites, whose hereditary feud was rekindled by the slightest provocations : two colonies of Jews, who boasted a sacerdotal race, were their humble allies, and without converting the Arabs, they introduced the taste of science and religion, which distinguished Medina as the city of the book. Some of her noblest citizens, in a pilgrimage to the Caaba, were converted by the preaching of Mahomet; on their return they diffused the belief of God and his prophet, and the new alliance was ratified by their deputies in two secret and nocturnal interviews on a hill in the suburbs of Mecca. In the first, ten Charegites and two Awsites united in faith and love, protested in the name of their wives, their children, and their absent brethren, that they would for ever profess the creed, and observe the precepts, of the Koran. The second was a political association, the first vital spark of the empire of the SARACENS. Seventy-three men and two women of Medina held a solemn conference with Mahomet, his kinsmen, and his disciples ; and pledged themselves to each other by a mutual oa...« less