[76] There are two popular fallacies to be noted with regard to the so-called “Hegira.” In the first place, it should be transcribed as Hijra; and secondly, the word does not mean flight, but separation, for the incident to be recalled was not Mohammed’s flight to Medīna—but his separation from his family.
[77] “Islām” is synonymous for Mohammedanism in all Arabic-speaking countries. Its literal meaning is “resignation”—a heart-whole submission to the divine will.
[78] Khalīfa Rasūl Illāh was the full title of the “Successor of the Prophet of God.” The correct designation of the holder of the office is Khalīfa, while the office itself is Khilāfaa. The former word has till quite lately been transcribed “Khalif,” or Caliph. The self-styled successor of the Mahdi in the Soudan is, however, known to Europe under the correct designation, Khalifah.
[79] The outraged hospitality was avenged, for the murderer was torn to pieces by the mob, while the body of Yezdijerd was embalmed and buried in his ancestral tomb at Istakhr.
[80] He was the Prophet’s son-in-law, and had been elected in A.H. 44 by a council of six as successor to the stern `Omar, the second Caliph.
[81] Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, chap. li.
[82] Cf. Muir, Decline and Fall of the Caliphate, p. 208.
[83] Tabari, Annales, Series II. p. 15. From this date until the appearance in Central Asia of Kutayba in A.H. 86, our history is little more than an enumeration of Arab governors in Khorāsān, whose rule was usually as uneventful as it was shortlived. We have, however, considered it fitting to enter here into detail somewhat disproportionate to the rest of our narrative, seeing that the facts have hitherto been only accessible in works of Oriental writers.
[84] Müller, Der Islam, i. p. 354.
[85] Tabari, Annales, II. p. 109.