ity was gone, and
the focus of Arabia's obedience had shifted from the clan to the Prophet
as military overlord.

It is pre-eminently in the domain of political actions that Mahomet's
personality is revealed. The living fibres of his unique character pulse
through all his dealings with his fellow-leaders and opponents. Before
all things he possessed the capacity of inspiring both love and fear.
Ali, Abu Bekr, Hamza, Omar, Zeid, every one of his followers, felt the
force of his affection continually upon them, and were bound to him by
ties that neither misfortune nor any unworthy act of his could break. And
their devotion was called upon to suffer many tests. Mahomet was
self-willed and ruthless, subordinating the means to the end without any
misgivings. In his remorseless dealings with the Jews, in his calm
repudiation of obligations with the heathen as soon as he felt himself
strong enough, he shows affinities to the most conscienceless statesman
that ever graced European diplomacy.

His method of conquest and government combines watchfulness and strength.
No help was scorned by this builder of power. What he could not achieve
by force he attempted to gain by cunning. He had a large faith in the
power of argument backed by force, and his winning over of Abbas and Abu
Sofian chiefly by the aid of these two factors, combined with their
personal ambition, is only the supreme instance of his master-strokes of
policy. He knew how to play upon the baser passions of men, and
especially was he mindful of the lure of gold. His first forays against
the Kureisch were set before the eyes of his disciples as much
in the light of plundering expeditions as religious wars against an
infidel and oppressive nation.

He is at once the outcome of circumstances, and independent of them. He
gave coherence to all the unformulated desires for a fuller scope of
military and mercantile power stirring at the fount of Arabia's life, and
at the same time he founded his dominion in a unique and absolutely
personal manner. Within his sphere of governance his will was supreme and
unassailable.

If these mutable tribal entities were to be united at all, despotism was
the only possible form of command. As his polity demanded authority
vested in one person only, so his conception of God is that of an
absolute monarch, resistance to whom is annihilation.

Out of this idea the doctrine of fatalism was evolved. It was necessary
during the first terri