et himself suffered insults and personal injuries from the
hands of his persecutors. He was prevented from offering his prayers
(xcvi, 10). He allowed himself to be spat upon, to have dust thrown upon
him, and to be dragged out of the Kaaba by his own turban fastened to
his neck. He bore all these indignities with the utmost humility, and he
daily beheld his followers treated oppressively. After his uncle's death
his life was attempted, but he escaped by flying to Medina.

"And _call to mind_ when the unbelievers plotted against thee, to detain
thee prisoner or to kill thee or to banish thee: they plotted--but God
plotted; and of plotters is God the best."--viii, 30.

[Sidenote: 4. Historical summary of the persecutions.]

About 615 of the Christian era, the Koreish of Mecca began to persecute
the faith of Islam. Those who had no protection among the early Moslems
were hard pressed, as related above. A body of eleven men, some with
their families, fled the country, and found refuge, notwithstanding
their pursuit by the Koreish, across the Red Sea at the Court of
Abyssinia. This was the first Hegira, or flight of the persecuted
Moslems. After some time, the persecution being resumed by the Koreish
more hotly than ever, a larger number of Moslems, more than hundred,
emigrated to Abyssinia. This was the second flight of the Moslems. The
Koreish had sent an embassy to the Court of Abyssinia to fetch back the
refugees. The king denied their surrender. About two years later the
Koreish formed a hostile confederacy, by which all intercourse with the
Moslems and their supporters was suspended. The Koreish forced upon the
Moslems, by their threats and menaces, to retire from the city. For
about three years, they, together with the Prophet and the Hashimites
and their families, had to shut themselves up in the _Sheb_ of Abu
Talib. They remained there, cut off from communication with the outer
world. The ban of separation was put rigorously in force. The terms of
the social and civil ban put upon them were, that they would neither
intermarry with the proscribed, nor sell to or buy from them anything,
and that they would entirely cease from all intercourse with them.
Mohammad, in the interval of the holy months, used to go forth and
mingle with the pilgrims to Mecca, and preached to them the abhorrence
of idolatry and the worship of the One True God. The _Sheb_, or quarter
of Abu Talib, lies under the rocks of Abu Cobeis. A low ga