< Page:Early Christianity in Arabia.djvu
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185
IN ARABIA.

all unbelievers; and; though his projects were frustrated by his death, his last command was the invasion of Syria, and the revenge of his generals who fell at Muta.[1] The Syrian provinces had been but lately ravaged by the arms of the Persians; and were in no condition to make a powerful resistance.[2] Within a few years after the death of the prophet; the crescent had spread its baleful influence over Syria, Mesopotamia, Persia, and Egypt.

With the death of Muhammed the last sparks of Christianity in Arabia were extinguished. The professions of Abubeker, were marked by a spirit of moderation;[3] but he was surrounded by men whose only virtues were ferocious bravery and an unrelenting hatred to the enemies of their religion. The treatment of the conquered infidels accorded but


5 Cooperabant sane ad eorum propositum, quod paucis ante annis prædictus Cosdroe eandem Syriam violenter ingressus, urbes dejecerat, vel incenderat, suburbanasque ecclesias subverteus, populum captivaverat: et urbe sancta effracta, hostiliter in ea triginta sex civium millia gladio perimens, crucem dominicam, et loci ejusdem episcopum Zachariam, cum residuo populi tam urbis quam regionis universæ secum transtulit in Persidem. ... Ingressi igitur Arabes, terram habitatoribus reperientes vacuam, majorem subjiciendi eam sibi repererunt opportunitatem. Gulielmus Tyrius, lib. i. c. 2. Basil, ed.

  1. ↑ Gagnier, tom. ii. p. 27. The Greek account of the war which followed, may be consulted in Theophanes, &c. The Arabian account, in Elmacin.
  2. ↑ 5
  3. ↑ See the instructions of Abubeker to his generals as given by Gibbon.
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