Annals of Early Caliphet.

This work is a continuation of the ‘Life of Mahomet.’ Taking up the thread from his death and burial, it tells the story of the spread of the Religion which he founded, and seeks to trace the special causes — national, tribal, and spiritual — which moulded the Faith, created its expansive power, and guided its onward progress. The object is, in short, to float the bark of Islam over the rapids and devious currents of its early course until, becoming more or less subject to ordinary human influences, it emerges on the great stream of time. The author has, therefore, given the first four Caliphates in full detail; and has endeavoured to explain the ascendency of the Omeyyad house; and then, briefly showing how the Abbasside dynasty rose upon its ruins. Thereafter the history of Islam spreads itself out into the history of the world. The materials for the work will be understood by the reader as he goes along. They are purely Arabian. Christian authorities there are absolutely none to speak of. The author depends entirely upon Mahometan tradition; and that in a form very different from what we have been accustomed to in the Life of Mahomet.