The Prophet was despondent and sceptical of his power to persuade, though
his belief in Allah's might never wavered. He had failed so far to
produce any decisive impression upon the Meccan people, but might there
not be another town in Arabia which would receive his message? The little
band of pilgrims seemed to him sent in answer to his self-distrust, and
his failure at Taif as eclipsed by this sudden success. The caravan
returned to its native city, and there remained little for Mahomet to do
except to wait for the arrival of next year's pilgrims, and to keep
shining and ambient the flame of his religious fervour. He remained in
Mecca virtually on sufferance, and rapidly recognised the uselessness of
attempting any further conversions. His hopes were now definitely set on
Medina, and to this end he seems to devoted himself more than ever to the
perusal and interpretation of the Jewish scriptures.

The portion of the Kuran written at this time contains little else than
Bible stories told and retold to the point of weariness. Lot, of course,
is the characteristic figure; but we also have the life stories of
Abraham, Moses, Jonah, Joseph, and many others. The style has suffered a
marked diminution in poetic qualities. It has become reiterative and even
laboured. He continues his practice of alluding to current events, which
at Medina he was to pursue to the extent of making the Kuran a kind of
spasmodic history of his time, as well as an elementary text-book of law
and morality. In one of the suras--"The Cow"--Mahomet makes first mention
of that comfortable doctrine of "cancelling," by which later verses of
the Kuran cancel all previous revelations dealing with the same subject
if these prove contradictory: "Whatever verses we cancel or cause thee to
forget, we bring a better or its like; knowest thou not that God hath
power over all things?"

There is not much record in the Kuran of the influence of Christian