HALF HOURS WITH MUHAMMAD. CHAPTER I. HISTORY OF ARABIA PRIOR TO THE TIME OF MUHAMMAD. BETWEEN the Red Sea and the Persian Gulf lies a triangular continent, arid and well-nigh waterless, save where the fertility of an occasional flood lends to the scene the freshness and charm of an oasis in the desert. Wild, desolate, bleak, dreary and monotonous, the sandy region of Arabia presents but few features to command interest; yet this land, so unattractive in its nature, so uninteresting in its aspect, has played an allimportant part in the history of the world, for it can claim high honour and distinction as the birthplace of the Prophet of Islam-a genius who, whatever may be the verdict of posterity in regard to his "mission," has had a more potent influence on the destinies of mankind than has been vouchsafed to any son of Adam who has left footprints on the sands of time. The peninsula was divided by the Greeks and Romans into three portions-Arabia Felix, Arabia Petræa, and Arabia Deserta; but, according to Mr. Badger, "this nomenclature is unknown to the Arabs themselves 'Barru-'l-Arab,' or 'the Land of the Arabs,' is the name given by them to the peninsula generally. B PREFACE. THE opening of the Colonial and Indian Exhi bition of this year, when the minds of millions of the inhabitants of the United Kingdom are being vividly directed to the wonderful Empire which has been built up by British commerce and enterprise in the East, appeared to the writer to afford a fitting opportunity for the publication of a concise and popular account of the religion of Islam, which is professed by upwards of one-fourth of the population of the countries watered by the Indian Ocean, and by not less than fifty millions of British Indian subjects. The present little volume, the writer need scarcely say, does not pretend to offer anything new to the learned. It is a mere compilation from the pages of the best known original authors on the |