spoil
or genuinely convinced of the truth of Islam, possibly by the influence
of both these considerations, tendered his submission to Mahomet and
became converted. February and March, 630, were occupied in distributing
equitably the wealth that had fallen into his hands.

It was now the time of the Lesser Pilgrimage, and Mahomet returned to
Mecca to perform it. Then, having fulfilled every ceremony and surrounded
by his followers, he returned to Medina, still the capital of his
formless principality and the keystone of his power.

Thereafter Mahomet rested in his own city, where he lived in potential
kingship, receiving and sending out embassies, administering justice,
instructing his adherents, but still keeping his army alert, his leaders
well trained to quell the least disturbance or threatenings of revolt.
The conquest of Mecca and the victory of Honein had rendered him secure
from all except those abortive attacks that were instantly crushed by the
marching of the force that was to subdue them.

The year 680-681 was spent in the receiving and sending out of embassies,
alternating with the organising of small expeditions to chastise
recusants, but to Mahomet himself there came besides the flower of an
idyll, the frost of a grief.

Mary, the Coptic maid, young, lovely, and forlorn, the helpless barter of
an Egyptian king, reached Medina in the first year of embassies and was
reserved for the Prophet because of her beauty and her innocence. She had
become long since a humble inmate of his harem, and would have ended her
days in the same obscurity if potential motherhood had not come to her as
an honour and a crowning. When Mahomet perceived that she was with child
he had her removed from the company of his other wives, and built for her
a "garden-house" in Upper Medina, where she lived until her child was
born. Mahomet, returning from his campaigns, sought her in her retreat
and gave her his companionship and his prayers.

In April of 630 she bore a son to her master, who could hardly believe
that such a gift had been granted him. Never before had his arms held a
man-child of his own begetting, and the honours lavished upon the
slave-mother showed his boundless gratitude to Allah. A son meant much to
him, for by that was ensured his hope for a continuance of power when his
earthly sojourn was over. The child was named Ibrahim, and all the lawful
ceremonies were scrupulously observed by his father. He sacrificed