His followers now became an army and a remorseless conflict was waged with all who refused to come within the fold. This, brought his arms against the Jews. Their strongly fortified castles were taken one by one. Completely to break with the old regime he even ordered his followers to attack the caravans in the "holy month of truce, Ramadhan." This was a severe test of their faith. Victory steadilly followed his aggressions and brought him many converts; many deputations came in voluntarily, dazzled into conviction by his success. In 630 he had conquered Mecca. This was called "The Conquest." Although he compelled the inhabitants to give up their idols he compromised so far as to retain the Kaaba and the Festival of Mecca and to reinstate Mecca as a holy city. Abraham, now styled an Arabian, was said to have worshipped the Kaaba stone and was credited with being the father of the ritual. Fascinated by the glamor of Mohammed's remarkable triumphs, adherents came to him from all sides. What other creeds have taken centuries to attain, he achieved in his lifetime. This too rapid success is one of the defects of his movement. It grew too fast for excellence. So some of his successes were failures, for to obtain them the spiritual was occasionally sacrificed to the worldly. As each new province came under his sway, its submission was to be exemplified by proclamation of the _Mueddin_ for prayer, payment of alms-tax and acceptance of the Moslem law. But in each instance the internal tribal affairs were left untouched. In 632, in the eleventh year of the Hegira, Mohammed died. But not till Arabia was at his feet. He had founded a religion and a State. NOTE. _Islam_, the name given to this religion, and _Moslem_, to its followers, are both derived from a word meaning 'submission' (to God). _Musselman_ is another variant. A Jew, _Waraka Ibn Naufel_, is said to have been Mohammed's chief teacher and one of his strongest supporters. _Theme for discussion_: Should Mohammed be called a prophet? CHAPTER XLII. ISLAM AND THE JEWS.