‘He was an enthusiast, in that noblest sense when enthusiasm becomes the salt of the earth, the one thing that keeps men from rotting whilst they live.... He was an enthusiast when enthusiasm was the one thing needed to set the world aflame, and his enthusiasm was noble for a noble cause. He was one of those happy few who have attained the supreme joy of making one great truth their very life-spring. He was the messenger of the One God; and never to his life’s end did he forget who he was, or the message which was the marrow of his being. He brought his tidings to his people with a grand dignity sprung from the consciousness of his high office, together with the most sweet humility, whose roots lay in the knowledge of his own weakness.’ CHAPTER III =Islâm after Mohammed.=—Nothing gives a better idea of the hold Mohammed possessed over the hearts of his people than their sorrow when he lay sick and dying, or the outburst of grief which rent the city at the news of his death. At first they could hardly believe that the Master who had led them from darkness into light, from death unto life, could really be subject to the same laws as other beings. The words of the venerable Abû Bakr allayed the excitement: ‘Mussulmans,’ said he, ‘if you adored Mohammed, know that Mohammed is dead; if it is God that you adore, know that He liveth, He never dies. Forget not this verse of the Koran, “Mohammed is only a man charged with a Mission; before him there have been men who received the heavenly mission and died”; nor this verse, “Thou too, Mohammed, shall die as others have died before thee.”’ A great fabric had been built up, under divine guidance, by a master-mind; its foundations were laid in the conscience of mankind. But Islâm was yet in its infancy, at the mercy of hostile forces bent on its destruction. To keep alive the Faith and maintain intact the structure raised by him, it was necessary to elect, with all despatch, a successor to the Prophet. =Election of Abû Bakr as the Prophet’s Vicegerent.=—The choice fell on Abû Bakr, who, by virtue of his age and position in Mecca, held a high place in the estimation of the Arabs. =His Allocution.=—After his election the venerable patriarch addressed the following allocution to the people: ‘Ye people! now verily I am charged with the cares of government over you, although I am not the best amongst you. I need all your advice and all your help. If I do well, support me; if I mistake, counsel me. To tell truth to a person commissioned to rule is faithful allegiance; to conceal it is perfidy. In my sight the powerful and the weak are alike, and to both I wish to render justice.... Wherefore obey ye me, even as I obey the Lord and His apostle: if I neglect the laws of God and the Prophet, I have no more right to your obedience.’