nd the
adherence of this impetuous and dauntless mind was directly due to the
strength and steadfastness of Mahomet's faith in himself and his message.
Omar was an influential personage among the Kureisch, quick-tempered, but
keen as steel, and rejoicing in strife; he stands out among the many
warrior-souls to whom Islam gave the opportunity of tasting in its
fullness "the splendour of spears." Mahomet had indeed gathered around
him a group of men who were remarkable for their character and influence
upon Islam. Ali, the warrior par excellence, Abu Bekr, statesman and
counsellor, Othman the soldier, Hamza and Omar, are not merely blind
followers, but forceful personalities, contributing each in his own
manner towards those assets of endurance, leadership, and unshaken faith
which ensured the continuance of the Medinan colony and its ultimate
victory over the Kureisch.

Omar's conversion did not have the effect of softening the Kureischite
fury. On the contrary, the event seems to have stimulated them to
further persecution, as if they had some foreshadowings of their waning
power, and had determined with a desperate energy to quell for ever, if
it might be, this discord in their midst. Their next step was to try an
introduce the political element into this conflict of faiths by putting a
ban upon the house of Hashim and confining it to Abu Talib's quarter of
Sheb. This act, instigated mainly by Abu Jahl, who now becomes prominent
as the most terrible of Mahomet's persecutors, had a very notable effect
upon his position as well as upon the qualities of the cause for which
his party was contending.

For the first time the political aspect of Islam obtrudes itself.
Mahomet's followers are now not only the opponents of the Kureischite
faith and the enemies of their idols, but they are also their political
foes, and have drawn the whole house of Hashim into faction against the
ruling power--the Omeyyad house. Moreover, Mahomet and his companions,
now shut up and almost besieged within a definite quarter of the city,
were precluded from all attempts to spread their faith. Mahomet had
secured his little company of followers, but cut off from the rest of the
city his cause remained stationary, neither gaining nor losing adherents,
during the years 617-619.

The suras of this period show some of the discouragement he felt at the
time, but through them all beats a note of endurance and confidence:
God is continually behind his