=Mohammed’s Charter.=—Mohammed was now not merely a prophet, a preacher of glad tidings, but the unanimously elected chief magistrate of a prosperous city. His first act was to issue a charter defining the duties of the citizens, and the obligations of the allied Jews who lived in the neighbourhood, forbidding intestine warfare and bloodshed which had hitherto torn Yathreb to pieces, and requiring all disputes to be referred to the decision of the Prophet.[30] =Beginning of the Commonwealth of Islâm.=—This was the beginning of the Commonwealth of Islâm. A humble, unpretentious place of worship was erected where Mohammed preached to enthusiastic throngs on charity, brotherhood, and the duty man owed to God and his fellow creatures. In conjunction with other tribes the Meccans made several attempts to capture Medîna. They even seduced the neighbouring Jews to assist in the design. The attacks were repulsed, and the safety of Medîna and the progress of the new Gospel were permanently assured. The refractory and treacherous Jewish clans were ordered to quit the Medinite territories; one which had nearly brought destruction on the Moslems was more severely dealt with. Expeditions were now sent out to repress the raids of hostile tribes, and to punish crimes against unoffending people. They were enjoined ‘in no case to use deceit or perfidy, or to kill a woman or a child.’ They were told, ‘in avenging the injuries inflicted upon us, molest not the harmless inmates of domestic seclusion, spare the weakness of the female sex, injure not the infant at the breast or those who are ill in bed. Abstain from demolishing the dwellings of the unresisting inhabitants; destroy not the means of their subsistence, nor their fruit trees, and touch not the palm.’ =Charter to the Christians.=—In the ninth year of the Hegira, the Prophet granted to the Christians a charter which forms one of the noblest monuments of enlightened tolerance: ‘To the Christians of Najrân and the neighbouring territories the security of God and the pledge of His Prophet are extended for their lives, their religion, and their property—to the present as well as the absent and others besides; there shall be no interference with [the practice of] their faith or their observances; nor any change in their rights or privileges; no bishop shall be removed from his bishopric; nor any monk from his monastery, nor any priest from his priesthood, and they shall continue to enjoy everything great and small as heretofore; no image or cross shall be destroyed; they shall not oppress or be oppressed; they shall not practise the rights of blood vengeance as in the Days of Ignorance;[31] no tithes shall be levied from them, nor shall they be required to furnish provision for the troops.’