ginning of the fifth century A.D., their chiefs had rendered
themselves the masters and acknowledged guardians of the sacred Kaabah
at Mecca, and partly because of their connection with the Prophet. The
Kaabah, La Maison Carree, or square temple, a shrine of unknown
antiquity, was situated within the precincts of the town of Mecca, and
to it, long before Muhammad's time, the Arabs had brought yearly
offerings, and made devout pilgrimages. The tribe of Koraish, having
once obtained the keys of the consecrated building, had held them
against all comers till Muhammad's conquest of Mecca in A.D. 630, when
he handed over the key to Othman bin Talha, the former custodian, to
be kept by him and his posterity as an hereditary and perpetual
office, and he further confirmed his uncle Abbas in the office of
giving drink to the pilgrims.

Before entering into a somewhat lengthy description of Arabian
literature, it is necessary to give a short and rapid sketch of
Arabian history, beginning from the time of Muhammad, as his Koran was
the foundation of the literary edifice. All Arab authors have looked
upon that work as the height of eloquent diction, and have regarded it
as the model standard to be followed in all their productions.
Leaving, then, the two first periods of Arabian history, viz., the
prehistoric, and the pre-Muhammadan, without any particular notice,
the third period will be sketched as briefly as possible, and will be
found excessively interesting, containing as it does the rise,
grandeur, and decline of the Arabs as a nation.

Muhammad, on his death in June, A.D. 632, left the entire Arab
peninsula, with two or three exceptions, under one sceptre and one
creed. He was succeeded by Abu Bakr (the father of Ayesha, the
favourite wife of the prophet), known as the Companion of the Cave,
with the title of Khalifah, or successor. His reign only lasted two
years, but during that period the various insurrections that broke out
in Arabia in consequence of the death of the Prophet were promptly put
down, after severe fighting, in various parts of the peninsula, and
the whole country was subjugated. Foreign expeditions beyond the
borders were also planned and started.

Abu Bakr, dying in August, A.D. 634, was succeeded by Umar, or Omar,
the conqueror of Syria, Persia, and Egypt by means of his generals
Khalid bin Walid (the best, perhaps, that Islam produced), Abu Obaida,
Mothanna, Sad bin Malik, Amr bin al-Aasi, and others