Such as it is, however, the story can be worked out broadly with consistency, and the progress of the Moslem arms and faith, as a whole, depicted truthfully. The great treasury of tradition on which the historian must draw is the Annals of TABARI, happily styled by Gibbon the Livy of the Arabians, who flourished in the third century of the Hegira. Unfortunately his work has hitherto been accessible to me, in its original form, only as far as the great battle of Câdesîya, in the fourteenth year of the Hegira--that is, three years after the Prophet’s death.[1] The materials, however, so laboriously collected by Tabari, have been copiously used by later writers, especially by IBN AL ATHÎR (d. A.H. 630), whose History has been mainly followed in these Annals, from the point at which Tabari, as at present available, ends. I have not neglected other sources, such as BELÂDZORI (3rd cent.) and IBN KHALDÛN, a later writer. In all essential points I believe that the picture which I have endeavoured to draw of the rise and spread of the Faith may be accepted with confidence. I have received much help from the invaluable work of DR. WEIL,[2] whose literary acumen and candour are equalled only by his marvellous industry and research. I have also freely made use of M. CAUSSIN DE PERCEVAL’S admirable _Essai sur l’Histoire des Arabes_; but it unfortunately ends with the Caliphate of Omar. On the general condition of early Mussulman society I have found the scholarly volumes of H. VON KREMER most valuable.[3] I have followed the same system of rendering names as in the ‘Life of Mahomet’ (adopted mainly from Caussin de Perceval), excepting in such received forms as Bussorah, Mecca, &c.; namely: [Arabic] is represented by _th_. [Arabic] „ „ „ _j_. [Arabic] „ „ „ _kh_. [Arabic] „ „ „ _dz_. [Arabic] „ „ „ _z_. [Arabic] „ „ „ _dh_. [Arabic] „ „ „ _tz_. [Arabic] by a sharp accent, as _á_, _ó_. [Arabic] is represented by _gh_. [Arabic] „ „ „ _c_ or _ck_. [Arabic] „ „ „ _k_. In quoting from the ‘Life of Mahomet,’ I refer to the Second Edition in one volume, unless the First Edition in four volumes is specified. I am indebted for the map which illustrates the campaigns, to Mr. Trelawney Saunders, whose close acquaintance with the geography of Syria and Chaldæa peculiarly qualifies him to identify many of the sites, routes, &c. The reader must remember that the Mussulman year is a purely lunar one, being eleven days shorter than ours, so that passing through the solar cycle it gains a year in about every thirty-three years. At the death of Mahomet, in the eleventh year of the Hegira, Moharram (the first month of the Arabian year) began on the 29th of March, so that the corresponding months of the European calendar fell at that period as in the following table: Arabian Months. Corresponding Months