The locusts had a king over them, the Angel of the Abyss — not the angel of the pit of the abyss, but of “the abyss” at large. The star was especially related to “the pit”; and the Angel-king, to “the abyss. The star-power, as we have seen, was the kingdom of Arabia before its forces were precipitated upon “the earth”; while the Destroying Angel of the abyss was the Arabian Empire of the Caliphs, which, but for the Star- power of the pit, would never have existed in the world to torment and injure the nations of the abyss.
The caliphs united in their own persons the kingly and priestly characters. The first caliph was Abubeker, who began to reign on the death of Mohammed, A.D. 632. In A.D. 718, the end of the first century of the Hegira[1] the caliphs were the most potent and absolute monarchs of the globe. They reigned by the right of conquest over the nations of the east. Under the last of the Ommiades, the Arabian empire extended two hundred days’ journey from east to west, from the
confines of Tartary and India to the shores of the Atlantic ocean. In the year 750, a revolution dethroned the caliphs of the house of Omniyah, styled the Omniades, and set up in their stead the descendants of Abbas, uncle to Mohammed, and known as the Abbasides. Hitherto, Damascus had been the throne of the Arabian empire; but it was removed by Almansor to Bagdad, “the City of Peace,” on the eastern bank of the Tigris, A.D. 762. This was a few miles beyond the old Roman Euphra- tean frontier. War was now no longer the passion of the Saracens; their stern enthusiasm was softened by time and prosperity, and it was no longer easy to allure them by the hopes of spoil and of paradise. The luxury of the caliphs relaxed the nerves and terminated the the progress of the Arabian empire. The application of the touchstone now necessarily ceased. The power of the caliphs being established over “the abyss,” the alternative of “the Koran, tribute, or the sword,” could no longer be propounded to them. The “torment,” therefore, by this touchstone was no longer applied. It could not be in the nature of things. Power was given to them to basanize the Virgin-Mary and image worshippers five months, and beyond this period they could not “torment.” When did these five months begin? and how long a period do they represent?
In answer to the first question, I reply that they began when Abubeker, the first caliph, fulfilled the fourth verse of this ninth chapter, in commanding the generals and captains of his Syrian army to apply the touchstone according to his instructions. This was A.D. 632, which is doubtless the beginning of the five months of tormentation.
As to how long a period these five months represent, the key to this question is the nature of the torment. We now know what this is; and we know also, from history and the nature of things, that the torment did not cease at the end of five months of days, but continued for many such terms of five months each. On the contrary, it continued until there were no more within the scope of the woe to be tormented, the power of the caliphs having reached the full. In the sanguinary civil war between the Ommiades and the Abbassides, the Greeks had seized the opportunity of avenging themselves, and enlarging their limits: so that, A.D. 781-2, found the Greeks arrogant, and the frontier of the Arabian empire diminished. This was five months of years, or 150 years, from Abubeker’s command to torment, or “cleave the skulls” of the shaven crowns of the synagogue of Satan, and to give them no quarter till they turned Mohammedans or paid tribute.
But, though the power to torment had passed away with the period assigned for tormentation, the ApoZ/yon-Caliphs were still formidable, and powerful for offensive military operations, such as occur between hostile states. From A.D. 782 to A.D. 805, the caliphs Mohadi and Ha- roun al Rashid inflicted great calamities upon the Greeks. Haroun invaded their territories eight times; and, as often as they declined the payment of the regular tribute, they were taught to feel that a month of depredation, or adikia, injury, was more costly than a year of submission. They were exposed to these hostile inroads so long as the caliphs held the sceptre of the east. In the national and religious conflicts of the two empires, peace was without confidence, and war without mercy. Quarter was seldom given in the field; those who escaped the edge of the sword were condemned to hopeless servitude, or exquisite torture; and a catholic emperor relates with visible satisfaction the execution of the Saracens of Crete, who were flayed alive, or plunged into caldrons of boiling oil.
But, the time alloted for the Arabian and Greek empires to cease their sanguinary conflicts, in the beginning of the tenth century was drawing to a close. The destroying power of the caliph-angel of the abyss, as against the Greek empire, was limited to three hundred years, or the end of the second period of five months. It was to decline and fall. The luxury of the caliphs, the rebellion of the Carmathians,[2] and the revolt of the provinces, at length deprived the Arabs of the sceptre of the east. The revolt of the provinces circumscribed the dominions of the caliphs within the walls of Bagdad; until the independent Persic-Mos- lem dynasty of the Bowidest interposing on account of factions prevailing there, advanced A.D. 933, to Bagdad; stripped the caliph of his secular office and supremacy; and reduced him to his spiritual functions as Chief Pontiff of Islamism, the mere phantom thenceforward of the departed power of the Destroying Angel of the Abyss. Thus died “Apol- lyon” by the suicide of his own hands twice five months of years, or three complete centuries, from the issuing of the smoke out of the pit of the abyss A.D. 632.
“The first woe is passed away,” A.D. 933; “behold, there come yet two woes after these things.”
[1] The Hegira, or Flight is the title given to the flight of Mohammed to Medina (then called Yat- hrib) from the wrath of the merchants of the polytheistic idolators of Mecca in A.D. 622. The Islamic calendar dates from 1 July of that year, as indicated by the letters AH {Anno Hegirae). Thus A.D. 622 is AH 1 in Islamic time. It is interesting to note that from that period of time 1260 added brings to 1882, the year Britain occupied Egypt; 1290 brings to 1912 and the Balkan wars which weakened Turkey; and 1335 brings to 1957 which followed the successful Suez attack by Israel, and witnessed the signing of the Rome Treaty that brought into existence the E.E.C. — Publishers.
[2] The Carmathians were a Moslem sect, centred in Bahrein that followed the lead of a Yemenite Moslem named Hamdan Carmat. They practised a brand of Shi’ism (the Shi’ites are the dominant sect in Persia today), and opposed the Caliphate of Baghdad, seeking to weaken his power. For considerable time they dominated Arabia by the sword, and attempted to win all the East to their cause by its same persuasive argument. — Publishers.
t The Bowides comprised a dynasty of Persia established by three brothers descended from Abu Shaja Buya. Under die reign of the Bowides (or Buwayids), the language and influence of Persia were restored, and the Arabs, three hundred and four years after the death of Mohammed, were deprived of the sceptre of the East. Their political and military influence extended from the Persian Gulf to the Caspian Sea, and included Baghdad itself. Though nominal respect was given the Caliphate, its political influence was greatly weakened under their rule. This prepared the ground for the assumption of Islamic power by the Turks, and the ultimate establishment of the Ottoman Empire.—Publishers.