Transcriber's Note Italic font is indicated by _underscores_. Bold type is indicated by =equal signs=. [Illustration: MOHAMMED] [Illustration: =Mohammed= BY R. F. DIBBLE THE VIKING PRESS NEW YORK ·:· MCMXXVI ] COPYRIGHT, 1926, BY THE VIKING PRESS, INC. PRINTED IN U. S. A. [Illustration] CONTENTS I. ARABIA: FELIX, PETRÆA, ET DESERTA 9 II. EARLY YEARS 25 III. ALLAH AND MOHAMMED 44 IV. “A PROPHET IS NOT WITHOUT HONOR” 65 V. THE HEGIRA 88 VI. HOLY WARS 112 VII. DEFEAT OF ALL INFIDELS 149 VIII. AVOCATIONS 176 IX. THE TRIUMPHANT RETURN 205 X. MOHAMMED AND ALLAH 229 [Illustration] “... it may perhaps be expected that I should balance his faults and virtues, that I should decide whether the title of enthusiast or impostor more properly belongs to that extraordinary man. Had I been intimately conversant with the son of Abdallah, the task would still be difficult, and the success uncertain: at the distance of twelve centuries, I darkly contemplate his shade through a cloud of religious incense; and, could I truly delineate the portrait of an hour, the fleeting resemblance would not equally apply to the solitary of Mount Hira, to the preacher of Mecca, and to the conqueror of Arabia.” --GIBBON [Illustration] [Illustration: I] ARABIA: FELIX, PETRÆA ET DESERTA I Midway between Asia and Africa lies the giant peninsula of Arabia--the vast, immutable, resplendently mysterious country that bridges the Orient and the Occident. Shaped somewhat like a triangle and somewhat like an oblong, she appears to the vulgar eye more like a boot with its toe lopped off. Three bodies of water--the Red Sea, the Arabian Sea, and the Persian Gulf--roll their guardian waves against her rocky, mountainous coasts, while her northern domain is staunchly defended by the impassable Syrian Desert.