musk trickled down the forehead of his lordship, and I heard a melody the like of which I had never heard before in my life, nor did I perceive any change in the intellect of the apostle of God even till his last breath.' The writer of these pages says that although he entertained some doubts about the story of Moa'adh B. Jabal, he has nevertheless inserted it in this place for the sake of greater perspicuity.

SOME OF THE MIRACLES AND [FULFILMENTS OF SOME]
PRAYERS OF HIS LORDSHIP.

Muhammad E. Esahâq has a tradition that after Abul-a'ass B. Rabyi' B. A'bdu-l-u'zza B. Shams, who was the son of the sister of Khodayjah, the daughter of Khowylad, had married her daughter Zaynab, whom she begat with the apostle of God, and also after Raqyah, the step-sister of Zaynab, had been married to O'tbah B. Abu Lahab, a feud had broken out between the Qoraish and the apostle of God, in consequence whereof the flames of envy and rancour had commenced to blaze in the furnaces of their minds. Wishing to distress and to insult that prince, some of the Qoraish said to Abu-l-a'ass and to O'tbah: 'Both of you have wedded daughters of Muhammad, and have thereby relieved him of the trouble to take care of them. Now you must divorce his daughters in order to cause him. grief and unhappiness; and we shall give you instead of them any of the daughters of Qoraish chieftains whom you may select.' Abu-l-a'ass replied: I swear by God that I shall never separate from my wife, nor prefer any other woman to her.' O'tbah the licentious-curses be on him— however, said: 'If you try to procure for me the daughter of Sa'yd Abu-l-a'ass I shall divorce the daughter of Muhammad.' Accordingly the Qoraish married the daughter of Sa'yd to O'tbah, although at that time he had not yet had any true connection with Raqyah.' U'rwah B. Azzobayr says: 'O'tbah came to the apostle of God, and spoke the following words: "This son-in-law [of thine] does not believe in the crazy star which has come down,

and does not acknowledge that Jebrail is visiting thee." Then he squirted the saliva of his impure mouth towards his lordship-u. w. b.-divorced Raqyah, uttered a few more unbecoming words, and departed.'

Distich The moon sheds light, the dog barks;

It is not the moon's fault, but the dog's nature.

It is related that on the occasion when O'tbah-curses on him-perpetrated the above act, the apostle of Godu. w. b.-pronounced the following invocation: 'O God, appoint over him one of Thy dogs.' Abu Ttâleb, who was present with the apostle of God, said to O'tbah: 'O my nephew, what stratagem can save thee from the sequel of this prayer?' According to another tradition, Abu Ttâleb, being grieved at his lordship's wish, said to the prophet: 'Son of my brother, what wilt thou gain by this evil wish?' In short, O'tbah returned to his house and communicated to his father, Abu Lahab, what had taken place; but the latter was, despite his idolatry and obstinacy, convinced that the wish of his lordship, the best of the servants of God, would be responded to, and was grieved. Some time afterwards, Abu Lahab and O'tbah departed with a company of the Qoraish to Syria for the purpose of trading. During their journey, however, they halted in a station where monk informed them that many wild beasts were on the road, and advised them to be very careful. On that occasion Abu Lahab turned to his companions, and said: 'Be prepared for a contest and aid each other, for I am not sure whether the imprecation of Muhammad will not be responded to.' Afterwards they heaped together all their baggage, and the couch of O'tbah happened to be on the top of it. When the night set in, O'tbah reclined on his couch, and the whole caravan reposed around the property of O'tbah. In the middle of the night, however, a roaring lion attacked the people of the caravan, all of whom were sleeping near their baggage; he snuffed at every person, but injured no one until he mounted the heap of merchandise where O'tbah slept, and sent that impudent

wretch to hell by ripping up his abdomen, thus making him a loser in this and in the next world.

It is related that when Abu Ttâleb happened, on a certain occasion, to be sick, his holy and prophetic lordship— u. w. b.-condescended to pay him a visit, during which he requested the apostle to pray that the Most High would grant him health. That prince accordingly turned to the Qiblah of prayer, and said: 'O God, heal my uncle, Abu Ttâleb.' Whereon the latter, having immediately been cured of his disease, said: 'O Muhammad, the Creator whom thou worshippest responds indeed to thy requests.' The Sunnis allege that the apostle of God replied to these words with his wonderfully eloquent tongue as follows: 'Uncle, if thou wilt also worship Him, He will grant thy prayers likewise.'

There is a tradition that a woman had a son, who was so sick that he had not a single hair left on his head; therefore she took the little boy to the apostle of God, and requested him to pray to God that he might recover his health. His lordship complied with the request of the poor woman, placed his hands on the head of the little boy and uttered a prayer, whereon the hair immediately sprouted on his head, and he was cured of his disease. At the time when Moseylamah the liar claimed to be a prophet, a woman brought her sick boy to him, and requested him to pray for his recovery. Moseylamah placed his hands on the head of the child, but by the touch of his unhallowed hand the little boy lost every hair of his head.

It is related of A'li the Commander of the Faithfulu. w. b.-that he said: 'On a certain occasion I was attending on the apostle of God, when a number of the Qoraish approached him, and said: "Muhammad, the pretensions made by thee are greater than any ever broached by thy ancestors; but if thou canst show them to be true, we shall acknowledge thee to be a prophet; if not, we shall set thee down as a wizard and liar." His lordship asked: "What is your wish ?" They continued: "Call out to this tree that it come out from the earth with its roots." They

then pointed out a tree in the vicinity, and the apostle of God said: "Allah is omnipotent! If He does this thing, will you believe in His unity?" The idolaters having replied in the affirmative, his lordship continued: "I shall show you what you ask, although I know that there is no good in you, and I know him who instigated you, namely, Abu Jahl. He also is among you, who will make a league437 against me, namely, Abu Sofyân B. Harb." Then he exclaimed: "O tree, if thou believest in Allah the Most High and Glorious, and in the day of requital, and if thou knowest me to be the apostle of God, arise from the earth with all thy roots and stand near me by the permission of God the Most High, whose name be blessed and exalted!"'' A'li continued: 'I swear by that God who has in reality sent Muhammad to mankind, that the tree came out of the earth with its roots, approached the apostle of God-u. w. b. -uttered a great shout, and shook itself like the wings of a bird, moving until it reached the prophet, near whom it remained stationary and overshadowed him with its two highest branches. Some of these also touched my back while I was standing at the right hand of his lordship. When the idolaters saw what was taking place, they said: "O Muhammad, order one half of the tree to remain with thee, and the other to return to its former place." His holy and prophetic lordship thereon made a sign to the tree, and one half of it remained, while the other returned to its former place. They then again requested him to move the stationary portion to its original place, and to bring the other again back therefrom, which he likewise did, and I exclaimed: "There is no God but Allah, and Muhammad is the apostle of Allah. I am thy first adherent, O apostle of Allah, and I believe whatever the tree has done was by command of God the Most High to demonstrate the truth of thy prophetship." After I had uttered these words, the Qoraish exclaimed: "Muhammad is a sorcerer, a liar, a juggler, and a wizard, and no one will believe him except such a fellow," meaning myself.'

437 See The Confederates,' Qurân, ch. xxxiii.

Accord

There is a tradition that once some persons came to the apostle of God, complained that their water was brackish, and said: The sweet water is distant from us.' ingly his lordship rose, and went with a number of his companions to the well, into which he threw some saliva from his blessed mouth, whereon the water immediately became sweet. The well is celebrated to this day, and was inherited by the members of that tribe from generation to generation, the people still boasting of the miracle worked in their favour. When the people of Moseylamah the liar had heard of this miracle, they requested him to work a similar one in their favour, but as soon as Moseylamah had thrown the saliva from his accursed mouth into their well, the water became brackish, and had the taste of the urine of an ass.

In some books it is recorded that several persons came to his lordship the refuge of apostleship, to complain of the paucity of water in their well. Accordingly his lordship spat into it, and the water rose as high as they wished. During the time of Moseylamah, some of his people who had heard of this miracle made the same request to him, and said: 'Muhammad has done such a thing, and we beseech thee in the same manner to spit into our well, for the increase of the water thereof.' Moseylamah complied with their petition, and when he squirted the water of his impure mouth into the well, the little water which was in it disappeared altogether, and the well became so dry that not a drop remained therein.

It is related that when his holy and prophetic lordship returned to Madinah from the Ghazwah of the Bani Tha'lebah, a camel one day approached him, and he asked his companions: 'Know you what this camel says?' Jâber the Anssâry-u. w. b.-replied: Allah and His prophet know best.' His lordship then said: 'This camel speaks as follows: " My owner has made me work till I have become old, and my back is sore. Now he wants to slay me and sell my flesh.'" His lordship continued:

Go with this camel to its owner and bring him to me.'