THE RISE OF ISLAM 233

most reformers he was persecuted by his own people in Mec-
ca, and had to seek shelter in another city since named Me-
dina—Madinat-un-Nabi or the Prophet's City. His flight
or Hijrah took place in 622 A.D. and marks the first year of
the Muslim Era. After the decisive battle of Badr, Muham-
mad returned victorious to Mecca and, before his death in
632 A.D., made himself the master over the entire peninsula.

The successors of Muhammad in leadership were called
the Caliphs. Within a century of the Prophet's death they
carried his message to thousands of people in the three con-
tinents of Africa, Europe, and Asia. Though in course of
time, they split up into the three corresponding Calipha-
tes of Cairo in Africa, Cordoba in Europe, and Bagdad in
Asia, for a hundred years they acted as one inspired man.
Islam meant ' submission to God', and those who accepted
this creed had above all to submit tc the five disciplines of
the faith: (1) Belief in the One God and Muhammad as His
prophet; (2) the duty of praying five times daily ; (3) giv-
ing alms to the poor; (4) fasting in the whole month of
Ramzan; and (5) making a pilgrimage to Mecca. The
teachings of Muhammad were collected in a volume called the
Koran. This and the Hadis or * traditions' constitute the
scripture of the Muhammadans. The Prophet during his
lifetime was both their spiritual leader and temporal ruler.
Hence Islamic society to begin with was a Theocracy. Soon
after Muhammad's death a dispute arose as to the succes-
sion. Some were for the Prophet's son-in-law Ali; others
for electing the Caliph. The former, called the Shiites, were
defeated ; and the latter, known as the Surmi, triumphed.
This rent Muslim society for all time into two hostile camps,
though there are no fundamental differences of creed between
them. Arabia represents the latter, and Persia the former.
In India there are representatives of both the sects. For the