growing strength of the Moslem party by the accession of valiant men like Hamza, and perhaps even concern for the fate of Deism, so dear to every Hanifite, which had been endangered by the recent compromise with idolatry, may have been factors in Omar's decision more cogent than the beauty of the Koran, though this also may have operated in favour of the step.

Omar was then twenty-six years old, of unusual bodily strength, and so tall that in a crowd he towered above all the rest. He could use the left hand as easily as the right, and his natural impetuosity was reflected by his rapid walk and long steps. Such a man could not but be a most valuable acquisition to a cause so fundamentally allied to the principle of physical force, as Islam. Mohammed's dreamy speculation and relative weakness found its needed complement in the trenchant determination and rude vigour of a man of action like Omar. If Mohammed was the mouth of Islam, and Abu Bekr its calculating head, Omar proved its strong arm and heavy fist.

Mohammed so fully appreciated this mighty arm of flesh, that he soon quitted Arkam's house and Makhzumite protection, to rely again on his own family and his few, but increasing and fearless, followers. One of the latter, Zohaib by name, made the following declaration: 'After Omar's conversion we confessed and preached Islam openly. We ventured to sit round the Kaaba, and to perform the circumambulation of the black stone. We no longer submitted to rough treatment, and as much as possible returned blow for blow.'

Omar himself, whose family either would or could not sufficiently protect him, had taken the precaution, notwithstanding his own strength, of placing himself under the protection of the influential Lahmite Az Ibn Wail, who, when the people surrounded his house with hostile intentions, calling out, 'Omar has turned Sabi,' put an end to the uproar by saying, 'What matters it if Omar has turned Sabi? I am his protector.' Having secured so effectual a protection, and being fully conscious of his own personal strength, Omar appears to have somewhat ostentatiously displayed his religious profession. According to Ibn Ishak's narrative, he purposely went to Jemil, who was reputed as being the man

best versed in the ancient traditions of the Koreish, to inform him boldly that he had embraced the faith of Mohammed. When Jemil thereupon exposed him before an assembly of people at the temple, saying, 'The son of El Khattab has apostatised,' Omar called out aloud, 'He tells a falsehood. I have turned Moslem, and confess that there is no God besides Allah, and that Mohammed is His minister and ambassador.'

(8.) After these Conversions, Persecution bursts out more fiercely, and Mohammed, with his entire family, is put under a ban.

The accession of two such bold and powerful men as Hamza and Omar to the cause of Mohammed, showed the aristocracy of Mecca that the new movement was not to be despised, and that the division it had produced in their community really threatened to become serious. In consequence, they resorted to a far more drastic measure, by placing Mohammed and his entire clan, as far as it openly espoused his cause or joined in his defence, under a regular social ban. Ibn Ishak narrates: 'When the Koreish saw that Mohammed's companions had found rest and shelter in Abyssinia, that Omar was converted and Hamza openly took his part, and that Islam gradually spread amongst the clans, they resolved to join in pledging themselves, by a written document, thenceforth not to contract any more marriages or have any sort of commercial dealings with the Beni Hashim and Mottaleb; and this document was to be suspended within the Kaaba to enhance its binding force. Thus they lived two or three years in great trouble, because it was only by stealth that their friends amongst the Koreish could take any provisions to them.'

The clan of Hashim and Mottaleb to which Mohammed belonged inhabited a confined, ravine-like quarter of the town, called Shib; and to this quarter all their scattered members who did not repudiate their family obligations to Mohammed, together with any other partisans, had now to withdraw, for the sake of greater personal safety and mutual protection. Being prevented from joining the mercantile caravans of the town and from trading as before, they