Religious Problem in India

Author(s): Annie Besant
Publisher: Theosophist Office Adyar

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THE RELIGIOUS PROBLEM IN INDIA
hide his suffering, and turns to go away. Then the voice of his uncle cries after him: “Stop, stop, speak what thou wilt; by the Lord, I will never abandon thee, no, never." *
But now the mele dies. It is "the year of mourning,” for worse, worse a thousandfold, Khadīja dies, his wife, his only love, his darling. He is alone, after six and twenty years of perfect wedded life,-alone.
Sometimes the Prophet tries to win a few converts among traders visiting Mecca, and one pledge taken by six converts has come down to us. It was taken on the hill of Akaba, and is called the pledge of Akaba. “We will not associate anything with God; we will not steal, nor commit adultery, nor fornication; we will not kill onr children ; we will abstain from calumny and slander; we will obey the Prophet in everything that is right; and we will be faithful to him in weal and sorrow.” †
At last, only one faithful old man, Abü Bakı, and Ali remain with the Prophet, and he resolves to fly. His enemies had cooped him up in the small house, and here assassins tried to reach him, and he escaped by a window. Avd lo! it is the year A. D. 622, that men call the Hijra, the Hegira, the leaving of Mecca, but the beginning of the Musulmān Era. The fugitives are chased; a price is set on the Prophet's head. “We are but two," says old Abū Bakı, quaking. “Nay,'' says Muhammad,"we are three ; God is with ns.” I
* The Spirit of Islam, p. 111. t Ibid, pp. 119, 120. # Ibil, p. 126.