[59] Among the Arabs it had
been an ancient usage to visit the Kaaba once a year, to worship there
the heathen deities. Mahomet, therefore, thought it expedient to comply
with a custom with which they were pleased, and which, besides, was so
beneficial to his native place, by bringing a great concourse of
pilgrims to it, that when he afterward came to be master of Mecca, he
enforced the pilgrimage with most of the old ceremonies belonging to it,
only taking away the idols and abolishing this worship. Though he now
took upon himself the sovereign command and the insignia of royalty, he
still retained the sacred character of chief pontiff of his religion,
and transmitted both these powers to his caliphs or successors, who, for
some time, not only ordered all matters of religion, but used,
especially upon public occasions, to officiate in praying and preaching
in their mosques. In process of time this came to be all the authority
the caliphs had left, for, about the year of the Hegira 325, the
governors of provinces seized the regal authority and made themselves
kings of their several governments.
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