been indebted for his first religious impressions; and though he did not remain long under lier care, yet the slight knowledge of pure religion which he thus ob- tained must certain!}' have inclined him to draw the Jew- ish inriuence to his "side in his attacks against the idol- atrous hurtles of Arabia (comp. Ockley, Saracens, i, 98; Von I lannncr, .1 ssassiiis, chap. i). The Jews, however, soon became convinced that the cause of Mohammed was not their own ; that his object was a union of all f4irces under his sceptre, the supremacy of Islam, and the subjugation, if not nltimately utter extinction of all rival religions; and the compact so lately formed was as nuickly broken by an open revolt. Mohammed, lioAsever, proved the stronger, and in the wars wliich he waged against the different Jewish tribes he came forth coniiueror. From 62-i to G28 se\-eral of the latter were subjugated or wholly destroyed, or obliged to quit the Arabian territory. In 032 all Jews were tinally driven from Arabia, antl they settled in Syria. A greater dis- play of heroism than the Jews exhibited during these struggles with the Islaniitish imixistor has never been witnessed, and we do not wonder that a Jewish writer shoidd point to the epoch as one of which every Jew has reason to be proud. The prophet himself very near- ly paid by his life for the victories which he had gained over ^losaism ; but it seems that, when Mohammedan- ism had acquired sufficient strength to spread beyond Arabia, the animosity towards the Jews was forgotten, and they were kindly treated. So much is certain, that the extension of the religion of the Crescent through Asiatic Turkey, Persia, Egypt, Africa, and the south of Spain, proved, on the whole, advantageous to the Jews. Excepting accidental persecutions, such as those in IMau- rifania A.D. 790, and in Egypt A.D. 1010, they enjoyed, under the caliphs and Arabian princes, comparative peace. The Jews actually entered upon a prosperous career in every country to which the Moslem arms ex- tended. In Sforth Africa, in Egypt, in Persia, their condition greatly improved, and in JMoorish Spain, where their religion enjoyed full toleration, theil- numbers greatly increased, and they became famous for their learning jis well as for trade. "In the new impulse given to traile by the progress of the Moslem arms, the Jews, ever awaice to their own interests, took their ad- vantage. In the wide extent of conquest, new wants were created by the advance of victorious armies : king- doms which had long ceased to hold intercourse with each other were brought into union, and new channels of ciinunercial intercourse were opened up; and, leaving tiie pursuits of agriculture, which were placed at a dis- advantage by the policy of the cali|)hs, tlie Jews be- came the merchants by whom the business betweei\the Eastern and the Western world was conducted. In the court of the calijihs they were favorably received, and for centuries the whole management of the coinage was intrusted to them, from the superior accuracy and ele- gance with which they could execute it, and from their opportuuilies, by the extent and variety of their com- mercial relations, to give it the widest circulati(ni, and at the same time to draw in all the previous mint- ages." ]5ut, as we have already said, it was not only in commercial greatness that they nourished. Not a few r)f them distinguished themselves in the walks of sci- ence and literature. They were counsellors, secretaries, astrologers, or physicians to the IMoorish rulers; and ttiis period may well be considered the golden age of Jewish literature. Poets, orators, jihilosiipliers of high- est eminence arose, not isolated, but in considerable numbers ; and it is a well-estalilished fact, that to them is chictly due— through the Arab medium— the preser- vation and subsequent spreading in Europe of ancient classical literature, more esi>ecially of philosoph v. (Com- pare, on the efforts of Nestorian Christians in this direc- tion,Etheridge,.S"./y//„« aiHr(lies,\).2m scp) Their chief nfteiuion, however, continued to be even then directed to the Talmud and its literature, especiallv in IJabylo- nia, where they still had a Iksh-<jdu(ha as" their im'me-
diate ruler. Here their great schools, reorganized im- der the Seboruim (thinkers), were put in a still more flourishing condition by the Geonim (eminent), of whom the most prominent are Saadias (q. v.) (about 892-942), the translator of the Pentateuch into Arabic, whom, for his great linguistic attainments, Aben-Ezra designates as the Cip^ b:3 D'^"i3'15an dXI ; Sherira Gaon (q. v.) (died 997), grandson of judah, to whom we owe our most accurate knowledge of the Jewish schools in Bab- ylonia. In this period (from the 6th to the 8th centu- ries) the Jlasora was developed, followed by numerous commentaries on it and on the Targum of Jerusalem, besides a collection of the earlier Hagr/adas (e. g. Ben- hiih-rahbu), now mostly known as Midrashim. See MiDRASir. From Palestine, also, came about this time signs of freshness and vigor in Jewish literature : the admirable vowel system; talmudical coniiiends and w Til- ings on theological cosmogon}% See Cabat.a. The Karaites (q. v.) likewise, according to some authorities, originated about the 8th century (this is, however, dis- puted now by Rule, Karaite Jeics, Lend. 1870, sm. 8vo, who believes them to be of much earlier date), and un- der their influence a whole kingdom, named Khozar, is believed to have been converted to Judaism, on the shores of the Caspian Sea. See Jehudah (Ha-Li-:vi) bkn-Samuel. Here deserve mention, also, the most celebrated of the Jews in Africa under the Saracen princes, the grammarians Ibn-Koraish (q. v.), Dunash (q. v.), Chayug (q. v.) ; the lexicographer Hefetz, and Isaac ben-Soleyman.