So that when Mohammed was born the people were in
a condition of religious uncertainty. Many elements contributed to
this unrest. Travellers learned that the more prosperous nations had
rejected the age long sanctions of Paganism; earnest, thoughtful men
could not but recognise its inadequacy to satisfy the religious
aspirations of their fellows; Jews and Christians, who had settled in
the country, had introduced views that appealed to those who were
dissatisfied with the old methods of thought; while the need for
social and political unity called for a force that would unite the
scattered tribes in the pursuit of common ideals. Thus was the land
prepared for the mighty revolution that was to come--a revolution that
made one great nation of the various tribes, and turned their warlike
instincts and characteristic fanaticism, which before had been
dissipated by wasteful internecine strife, into one definite channel,
until it became a menace to the whole world. A change so potent, that,
in the lifetime of one man, it was able to obliterate partly by
absorption, and chiefly by annihilation, the sanctions and beliefs of
centuries, and which fostered a hatred so bitter, and a brotherhood so
strong, between man and man, that by its sanction the dearest,
tenderest, and strongest ties of humanity have been broken, while
those who for years had lived in enmity were united in bonds stronger
than death.
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