ut
Mahomet was probably as well informed of the Kureisch movements as they
were themselves, and knew that no real attack was possible. He therefore
determined to show both friends and enemies that he was ready to meet
his foes. The Muslim were not very agreeable, knowing what fate had
decreed at their last encounter with the Meccans, but Mahomet's stern
determination prevailed. He declared that he would go to Bedr even if he
went alone, and so collected by sheer force of will 1500 men. He marched
to Bedr, held camp there for eight days, during which, of course, no
demonstration was made, and the whole expedition was turned into a
peaceable mercantile undertaking. When all their goods had been
profitably sold or exchanged, Mahomet broke up the camp and returned in
triumph to Medina. His prestige had certainly been much increased by this
unmolested sortie. It was therefore in a glad and confident mood that he
returned to his native city and prepared to enjoy his success.

He took thereupon two wives, Zeinab and Omm Salma, of whom very little is
known, except that Zeinab was the widow of Mahomet's cousin killed at
Bedr. The incident of his marriage with Zeinab finds allusion in the
Kuran in the briefest of passages. She was probably taken as much out of
a desire to protect as a desire to possess, and she quickly became one of
the many with whom Mahomet was content to pass a few days and nights.
There are also signs in the Kuran at this time of disagreements between
the different members of his household, and of their extravagant demands
upon Mahomet.

It was evidently not so easy to rule his wives as to acquire them.
Moreover, he was beginning to feel the sting of jealousy towards every
other man of the Muslim.

Here really begins the insistence upon restrictive regulations for women
which has been ever since the bane of Islam. Mahomet could not allow his
wives to go abroad freely, decked in the ornaments he himself had
bestowed, to become a mark for every envious gazer. They were not as
other women, and his imperious nature regarded them as peculiarly
inviolate, so that he fenced in their actions and secluded their lives.
As early as his marriage with Zeinab he imposed restrictions upon women's
dress abroad. They are not to traverse the streets in jewels or beautiful
robes, but are to cover themselves closely with a long sober garment.
Whereas his former sura regarding women had been confined to codifying
and rendering