,) Elmacin, (Hist. Saracen.
p. 8, 9, 10,) Abulpharagius, (Dynast. p. 103.)]

[Footnote 1381: This peaceful entrance into Mecca took place, according
to the treaty the following year. Weil, p. 202--M. 1845.]

[Footnote 139: After the conquest of Mecca, the Mahomet of Voltaire
imagines and perpetuates the most horrid crimes. The poet confesses,
that he is not supported by the truth of history, and can only allege,
que celui qui fait la guerre a sa patrie au nom de Dieu, est capable
de tout, (Oeuvres de Voltaire, tom. xv. p. 282.) The maxim is neither
charitable nor philosophic; and some reverence is surely due to the
fame of heroes and the religion of nations. I am informed that a Turkish
ambassador at Paris was much scandalized at the representation of this
tragedy.]

[Footnote 140: The Mahometan doctors still dispute, whether Mecca was
reduced by force or consent, (Abulfeda, p. 107, et Gagnier ad locum;)
and this verbal controversy is of as much moment as our own about
William the Conqueror.]

[Footnote 141: In excluding the Christians from the peninsula of
Arabia, the province of Hejaz, or the navigation of the Red Sea, Chardin
(Voyages en Perse, tom. iv. p. 166) and Reland (Dissertat. Miscell.
tom. iii. p. 61) are more rigid than the Mussulmans themselves. The
Christians are received without scruple into the ports of Mocha, and
even of Gedda; and it is only the city and precincts of Mecca that are
inaccessible to the profane, (Niebuhr, Description de l'Arabie, p. 308,
309, Voyage en Arabie, tom. i. p. 205, 248, &c.)]

The conquest of Mecca determined the faith and obedience of the Arabian
tribes; [142] who, according to the vicissitudes of fortune, had obeyed,
or disregarded, the eloquence or the arms of the prophet. Indifference
for rites and opinions still marks the character of the Bedoweens; and
they might accept, as loosely as they hold, the doctrine of the Koran.
Yet an obstinate remnant still adhered to the religion and liberty of
their ancestors, and the war of Honain derived a proper appellation from
the idols, whom Mahomet had vowed to destroy, and whom the confederates
of Tayef had sworn to defend. [143] Four thousand Pagans advanced with
secrecy and speed to surprise the conqueror: they pitied and despised
the supine negligence of the Koreish, but they depended on the wishes,
and perhaps the aid, of a people who had so lately renounced their gods,
and bowed beneath the yoke of their enemy. The banners