AFTER THE HEGIRA.--The _Koreishites_, the rulers and the elders, persecuted him. They flung out the reproach, that his adherents were from the poor or from the rank of slaves. This provoked him to denounce them, and to threaten them with the Divine judgment and with perdition. He lost his uncle in 619: his wife had died before. He had found sympathy with his claims from pious men from _Medina_. They offered him an asylum. Thither he went in 622, the date of his _Hijira_, or flight from Mecca, from which the Mohammedan calendar is reckoned. At Medina he won influence: he was frequently resorted to as an adviser, and as a judge to settle disputes. His activity in this direction was beneficent. His injunctions respecting the rights of property, and the protection due to women, were, in the main, discreet and wholesome. Naturally and speedily he became a political leader as well as a religious reformer. This new course on which he entered made a breach between him and the _Jews_, whom he had hoped to conciliate. He drew off from fellowship with them, made _Friday_ the principal day of public worship, and Mecca its principal seat. For the Jewish fast he substituted the month of _Ramadan_. His plan was to cement together the Arab tribes, superseding the old tie of blood by the new bond of fellowship in adherence to him. The project of a holy war to conquer and to crush the idolaters, and to establish his own authority, was the means to this end. _Mecca_ was the first object of assault. He attacked and plundered a Meccan caravan in 623. The next year he defeated the _Koreishites_ in the battle of _Bedr_. In the battle of _Ohod_ (625) his followers were worsted. Other conflicts ensued, with attacks on the _Jews_ in the intervals, until, in 630, he entered _Mecca_ at the head of ten thousand men, and destroyed all the idols. This event secured the adhesion of the Arabian tribes, together with the chiefs of _Yemen_ and of the other more civilized districts. Hearing that the Emperor _Heraclius_ was proposing to attack him, he went forth to meet him, but found that the rumor was false. He was preparing a new expedition against the _Greeks_ when he died, in 632.