will ye be the last to embrace, and the
first to abandon, the religion of Islam?" After exhorting the Moslems
to confide in the aid of God and his apostle, Abubeker resolved, by a
vigorous attack, to prevent the junction of the rebels. The women
and children were safely lodged in the cavities of the mountains: the
warriors, marching under eleven banners, diffused the terror of their
arms; and the appearance of a military force revived and confirmed the
loyalty of the faithful. The inconstant tribes accepted, with humble
repentance, the duties of prayer, and fasting, and alms; and, after
some examples of success and severity, the most daring apostates fell
prostrate before the sword of the Lord and of Caled. In the fertile
province of Yemanah, [1] between the Red Sea and the Gulf of Persia,
in a city not inferior to Medina itself, a powerful chief (his name
was Moseilama) had assumed the character of a prophet, and the tribe of
Hanifa listened to his voice. A female prophetess [1111] was attracted
by his reputation; the decencies of words and actions were spurned by
these favorites of Heaven; [2] and they employed several days in mystic
and amorous converse. An obscure sentence of his Koran, or book, is yet
extant; [3] and in the pride of his mission, Moseilama condescended to
offer a partition of the earth. The proposal was answered by Mahomet
with contempt; but the rapid progress of the impostor awakened the
fears of his successor: forty thousand Moslems were assembled under the
standard of Caled; and the existence of their faith was resigned to
the event of a decisive battle. [3111] In the first action they
were repulsed by the loss of twelve hundred men; but the skill and
perseverance of their general prevailed; their defeat was avenged by the
slaughter of ten thousand infidels; and Moseilama himself was pierced by
an Aethiopian slave with the same javelin which had mortally wounded
the uncle of Mahomet. The various rebels of Arabia without a chief or
a cause, were speedily suppressed by the power and discipline of
the rising monarchy; and the whole nation again professed, and more
steadfastly held, the religion of the Koran. The ambition of the caliphs
provided an immediate exercise for the restless spirit of the Saracens:
their valor was united in the prosecution of a holy war; and their
enthusiasm was equally confirmed by opposition and victory.

[Footnote 1: See the description of the city and country of Al Yamana