st. john of damascus (676-749 - Cristo Raul
st. john of damascus (676-749 - Cristo Raul
st. john of damascus (676-749 - Cristo Raul
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"<br />
"<br />
"<br />
THE MAHOMETAN RULE IN SYRIA. 15<br />
bound together by the <strong>st</strong>ronge<strong>st</strong> <strong>of</strong> all ties, the sense<br />
<strong>of</strong> a Divine calling."<br />
The same preparedness <strong>of</strong> the<br />
soil to receive the seed, which made the teaching <strong>of</strong><br />
Mahomet take root and germinate so quickly at<br />
Medina, was the cause also <strong>of</strong> the rapid spread <strong>of</strong><br />
Mahometan conque<strong>st</strong>s soon afterwards. At Yathrib,<br />
better known thenceforward as Medina, 1 "<br />
the City,"<br />
the feuds <strong>of</strong> the Arabs and the Jews and, when the<br />
latter were subdued, the internecine feuds <strong>of</strong> the<br />
Arab tribes <strong>of</strong> Aus and Khazraj had ended in a<br />
general feeling <strong>of</strong> insecurity and weariness <strong>of</strong> war,<br />
such as makes men ca<strong>st</strong> about for a <strong>st</strong>rong ruler to<br />
govern them. They were, in fact, on the point <strong>of</strong> so<br />
choosing Abdallah, son <strong>of</strong> Obay, when the arrival <strong>of</strong><br />
Mahomet seemed to furnish them with the very<br />
2<br />
leader whom they sought.<br />
In like manner, when the armies <strong>of</strong> Islam began<br />
to invade the adjoining countries, Egypt on the we<strong>st</strong><br />
and Syria on the north, their success might seem at<br />
fir<strong>st</strong> out <strong>of</strong> all proportion to the means employed, or<br />
to the time consumed. But the conflagration spread<br />
rapidly because the trees were dry. Ju<strong>st</strong> as the<br />
citizens <strong>of</strong> Yathrib had been weakened by their longcontinued<br />
blood feuds, so the inhabitants <strong>of</strong> Syria<br />
and Egypt were in a <strong>st</strong>ate <strong>of</strong> religious, as well as civil,<br />
disunion and weakness. The majority in both those<br />
countries were Ne<strong>st</strong>orians or Monophysites, de<br />
pressed by the imperial laws, and ready to welcome<br />
1<br />
More properly Medinct-al-Nabi, City <strong>of</strong> the Prophet."<br />
Robertson s Hi<strong>st</strong>, <strong>of</strong> the Chri<strong>st</strong>ian Church," ii., p. 39, n.<br />
2<br />
Osborn, ubi. sup.) p. 42.