So Abu Bekr returned with Omar to Medîna. Osâma marched by Wâdi al Cora, in the direction of Dûma, Obna, and the highlands south of Syria. The brunt of his attack fell upon the Beni Codhâa, and the semi-Christian tribes which, under the Roman banner, had discomfited and slain his father. That disaster was now avenged in fire and blood. The land was ravaged far and near, and after an absence of two months, the army returned laden with spoil.[14]

Meanwhile stirring events had transpired at Medîna, of which an account is given in the chapter following.

CHAPTER III.
MEDINA THREATENED.
A.H. XI. June and July, A.H. 632.

Beneficial effects of Osâma’s expedition.

In after days Abu Bekr used to look back with a just pride and satisfaction to his despatch, against a universal reclamation, of Osâma’s force. Public opinion was not long in justifying the act and attributing thereto results of essential benefit. The firmness of his attitude inspired the Bedouin tribes with a sense of stability in the government. If the leaders at Medîna had not been confident in their strength at home they would not have sent away this army; and the Arabs, reasoning thus, were restrained from much that they might otherwise have attempted. Still the position was critical, and at times sufficiently alarming.

Courageous attitude of Abu Bekr.

It was indeed a thing of which the brave old Caliph might proud. ‘The Arabs,’ so the tradition runs, ‘were on all sides rising in rebellion. Apostasy and disaffection began to raise their heads; Christians and Jews to stretch out their necks; and the Faithful were left like a flock of sheep without a shepherd—their Prophet gone, their numbers few, and their foes a multitude.’ It was in face of all this that Abu Bekr sent off beyond recall his only force, and left Medîna open and, to the outward eye, defenceless.

Insurrection throughout Arabia.

During the lifetime of Mahomet three rivals had already laid claim to the prophetic office and raised the standard of rebellion. In the south, insurrection had hardly been quelled by the assassination of the ‘Veiled Prophet’ of Yemen, when tidings of the death of Mahomet made it burst forth with redoubled violence. Enshrined in the very centre of the peninsula, Moseilama had detached the powerful tribes around Yemâma from their allegiance; and to the north-east, nearer home, Toleiha, the third pretender, was now openly and dangerously hostile.[15] From every quarter, in rapid succession, came the news of spreading disaffection. The legates of Mahomet, the collectors of tithes—all, in fact, who represented the authority of Islam—fled or were expelled. The Faithful were massacred, and some confessors suffered a cruel death. Mecca and Tâyif quivered and vacillated at the first intelligence of the Prophet’s decease; in the end, through the strong influence of the Coreish, they stood firm; but they were almost alone. Here and there some few tribes, under loyal, or, it might be, temporising, chiefs, maintained the semblance of obedience; but they were hardly discernible amidst the seething mass of rebellion. Amru, hurrying back from Omân (whither he had been sent by Mahomet as ambassador at the Farewell Pilgrimage), witnessed the whole of Central Arabia either in open revolt or ready to break away on the first demand of tithes, and his report filled the citizens of Medîna with dismay.[16] In truth, Islam had never taken firm hold of the distant provinces; and as for the Bedouins, Mahomet had himself had frequent cause to chide their fickleness. It was fear of punishment, and the lust of plunder, rather than attachment to the faith, which had hitherto held these wild sons of the desert in bondage to the Prophet. The restraints and obligations of Islam were irksome and distasteful; and now, on Mahomet’s death well rid of them, they hoped to return to their lawless life.

Demand for exemption from tithes refused by Abu Bekr.