them to take this dubious step. It is beyond question that Mahomet's
personality was the moving factor in the conversion of each, for each
relates an incident which serves peculiarly to illustrate the Prophet's
magnetism.

Hamza, "the lion of God," and a son of Abd-al-Muttalib in his old age,
was accosted by a slave girl as he passed on his way through the city
She told him breathlessly that she had seen "the Lord Mahomet" insulted
and reviled by Abu Jahl, and being unprotected and alone, he could only
suffer in silence. Hamza listened to her story with indignation, and
determined to revenge the insult to his uncle and foster-brother, for by
the ties of kinship they were one. In the Kaaba he publicly declared his
allegiance to Islam, and revenged upon Abu Jahl the injuries he had
inflicted upon his kinsman. Hamza never repented of his championship of
Mahomet. The adventurous fortunes of Islam satisfied his warrior-spirit,
and under Mahomet's guidance he helped to control and direct its military
zeal, until it had perforce established its religion through the sword.
Mahomet's personal magnetism had drawn him irresistibly to the religion
he upheld so steadfastly, and in the face of revilement and danger.

Omar was Mahomet's bitterest enemy, and had proved his ability by his
persistent opposition to Islam. He was feared by all the company of
religionists that had taken up their precarious quarters near Mahomet. He
was visiting the house of his sister Fatima when he heard murmurs of
someone reciting. He inquired what it was, and learned with anger that it
was the Sacred Book of the abhorred Muslim sect. His sister and Zeid, her
husband, tremblingly confessed their adherence to Islam, and awaited in
terror the probable result. Omar was about to fall upon Zeid, but his
wife interposed and received the blow herself. At the sight of his
sister's blood Omar paused and then asked for the volume, so that he