"Il estimait sincèrement la force.... Jetée dans le monde, son
âme se trouva à la mesure du monde et l'embrassa tout.... C'est
l'état prodigieux des hommes d'action. Ils sont tout entiers dans la
moment qu'ils vivent et leur génie se ramasse sur un point."

ANATOLE FRANCE



MAHOMET


INTRODUCTION

The impetus that gave victory to Islam is spent. Since its material
prosperity overwhelmed its spiritual ascendancy in the first years of
triumph its vitality has waned under the stress of riches, then beneath
lassitude and the slow decrease of power. The Prophet Mahomet is at once
the glory and bane of his people, the source of their strength and the
mainspring of their weakness. He represents more effectively than any
other religious teacher the sum of his followers' spiritual and worldly
ideas. His position in religion and philosophy is substantially the
position of all his followers; none have progressed beyond the primary
thesis he gave to the Arabian world at the close of his career.

He closes a long line of semi-divine teachers and monitors. After him the
curtains of heaven close, and its glory is veiled from men's eyes. He is
the last great man who imposed enthusiasm for an idea upon countless
numbers of his fellow-creatures, so that whole tribes fought and died at
his bidding, and at the command of God through him. Now that the vital