triumphal procession; the people
thronged around his camel shouting, "The Prophet; he is come!" mingling
their cries with homage and wondering awe, that the divine servant of
whom they had heard so much should appear to them in so human a guise, a
man among them, verily one of themselves. Mahomet's camel stopped at the
house of Omm Kolthum, and there he elected to abide during his stay in
Coba, for he possessed throughout his life a reverence for the instinct
in animals that characterises the Eastern races of all time. There,
dismounting, he addressed the people, bidding them be of good cheer, and
giving them thanks for their joyous welcome:

"Ye people, show your joy by giving your neighbours the salvation of
peace; send portions to the poor; bind close the ties of kinship, and
offer up your prayers whilst others sleep. Thus shall ye enter Paradise
in peace."

For four days Mahomet dwelt in Coba, where he had encountered unfailing
support and friendship, and there was joined by Ali. His memories of Coba
were always grateful, for at the outset of his doubtful and even
dangerous enterprise he had received a good augury. Before he set out to
Medina he laid the foundations of the Mosque at Coba, where the Faithful
would be enabled to pray according to their fashion, undisturbed and
beneath the favour of Allah, and decreed that Friday was to be set apart
as a special day of prayer, when addresses were to be given at the Mosque
and the doctrines of Islam expounded.

Even as early as this Mahomet felt the mantle of sovereignty descending
upon him, for we hear now of the first of those ordinances or decrees by
which in later times he rules the lives and actions of his subjects to
the last detail. Clearly he perceived himself a leader among men, who had
it within his power to build up a community following his own dictates,
which might by consolidation even rival those already existent in
Arabia. He was taking command of a weak and factious city, and he
realised that in his hands lay its prosperity or downfall; he was, in
fact, the arbiter of its fate and of the fate of his colleagues who had
dared all with him.

But he could not stay long in Coba, while the final assay upon the
Medinans remained to be undertaken, and so we find him on the fourth day
of his sojourn making preparations for the entry into the city. It was
undertaken with some confidence of success from the messages already sent
to Coba, and proved as triumph