ide prince
Harith, ally of Heraclius and a great soldier. The envoys were treated
with the contempt inevitable before so strange a request from an unknown
fanatic, and Heraclius dismissed the whole matter as the idle word of a
barbarian dreamer. But Harith, with the quick resentment harboured by
smaller men, asked permission of the Emperor to chastise the impostor.
Heraclius refused; the embassy was not worthy of his notice, and he was
certainly determined not to lose good fighting men in a useless journey
through the desert. So Mahomet received no message in return from the
Emperor, but the omission made no difference to his determination to
proceed upon his course of diplomacy.

He then sent to Siroes of Persia a similar letter, but here he was
treated more rudely. The envoy was received in audience by the king, who
read the extraordinary letter and in a flash of anger tore it up. He did
not ill-treat the messenger, however, and suffered him to return to his
own land.

"Even so, O Lord, rend Thou his kingdom from him!" cried Mahomet as he
heard the story of his flouting.

His next enterprise was more successful. The governor of Yemen, Badzan,
nominally under the sway of Persia, had separated himself almost entirely
from his overlord during the unstable rule of Siroes, son of the warrior
Chosroes. Now Badzan embraced Islam, and with his conversion the Yemen
population became officially followers of the Prophet. Encouraged by the
success, Mahomet sent a despatch to Egypt, where he was courteously
received and given two slave girls, Mary and Shirin, as presents. Mary he
kept for himself because of her exceeding beauty, but Shirin was bestowed
upon one of the Companions. Although the Egyptian king did not embrace
Islam, he was kindly disposed towards its Prophet.

The next despatch, to Abyssinia, is distinguished by the importance of
its indirect results. Ever since the small body of Islamic converts had
fled thither for refuge before the persecutions of the Kureisch, Mahomet
had desired to convert Abyssinia to his creed. Now he sent an envoy to
its king enjoining him to embrace Islam, and asking for the hand of Omm
Haliba in marriage, daughter of Abu Sofian and widow of Obeidallah, one
of the "Four Inquirers" of an earlier and almost forgotten time. The
despatch was well received by the governor, who allowed Omm Haliba and
all who wished of the original immigrants to return to their native
country. Jafar, Mahomet's c