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[Recksiek J. <ta...@le...>]

Ut them off from the outer world, and within they had to suffer all
privations of a beleaguered garrison. No one would venture forth except
in the sacred months, when all hostile feelings and acts had to be laid
aside. The citizens could hear the voices of the half-famished children
inside the _Sheb_ and this state of endurance on the one side, and
persecution on the other, went on for some three years. Five of the
chief supporters of the adverse faction detached from the league and
broke up the confederacy and released the imprisoned religionists. This
was in the tenth year of Mohammad's ministry. Soon after Mohammad and
the early Moslems suffered a great loss in the death of his venerable
uncle and protector Abu Talib. Thus, Mohammad and his followers became
again exposed to the unchecked insults and persecutions incited by Abu
Sofian, Abu Jahl, and others; and being a handful in the hostile city,
were unable to cope with its rich and powerful chiefs. At this critical
period, either because he found it unsafe to remain at Mecca, or because
he trusted his message would find more acceptance elsewhere, Mohammad
set off to Tayef of the Bani Thakif,--the town was one of the great
strongholds of idolatry. There was a stone image, called Al-Lat, adorned
with costly vestments and precious stones, was an object of worship, and
esteemed to be one of the daughters of God. Here Mohammad preached to
unwilling ears, and met with nothing but opposition and scorn from the
chief men, which soon spread to the populace. He was driven out of the
town, maltreated, and wounded. He could not return to and enter Mecca
unless protected by Mut-im, a chief of the blood of Abd Shams. At the
yearly pilgrimage, a little group of worshippers from Medina was
attracted and won over by the preaching of Is