married before Sura IV, 3, came
into force, for the reason that the wives thus repudiated by him might
have married some of the unbelievers, even some of his enemies, which
would have been derogatory to the Prophet in the eyes of his
contemporaries and a laughing-stock for his enemies.

[Footnote 138: "We may readily admit that at the first Mahomet did
believe, or persuaded himself to believe, that his revelations were
dictated by a divine agency. In the Meccan period of his life there
certainly can be traced no personal ends or unworthy motives to belie
this conclusion. The Prophet was there, what he professed to be, 'a
simple Preacher and a Warner;' he was the despised and rejected teacher
of a gainsaying people; and he had apparently no ulterior object but
their reformation. Mahomet may have mistaken the right means to effect
this end, but there is no sufficient reason for doubting that he used
those means in good faith and with an honest purpose.

"But the scene altogether changes at Medina. There the acquisition of
temporal power, aggrandisement, and self-glorification mingled with the
grand object of the Prophet's previous life, and they were sought after
and attained by precisely the same instrumentality. Messages from Heaven
were freely brought forward to justify his political conduct, equally
with his religious precepts. Battles were fought, wholesale executions
inflicted, and territories annexed, under pretext of the Almighty's
sanction. Nay, even baser actions were not only excused, but encouraged
by the pretended divine approval or command. A special license was
produced, allowing Mahomet a double number of wives; the discreditable
affair of Mary the Coptic slave was justified in a separate Sura; and
the passion for the wife of his own adopted son and bosom friend was the
subject of an inspired message in which the Prophet's scruples were
rebuked by God; a divorce permitted, and marriage with the object of his
unhallowed desires enjoined."--Muir's Life of Mahomet, Vol. IV, pp.
317-8.]

[Footnote 139: "But the darker shades of character as well as the
brighter must be depicted by a faithful historian. Magnanimity or
moderation are nowhere discernible as features in the conduct of Mahomet
towards such of his enemies as failed to tender a timely allegiance.
Over the bodies of the Coreish who fell at Badr he exulted with savage
satisfaction; and several prisoners, accused of no crime but that of
scepticism a