THE prophet had for nine years been offering the blessings of Paradise to all who would accept his doctrines and give up their idols; and, though he now was freed from the ban under which he had been oppressed, his condition was very gloomy. He claimed that his mission was for all the world, and yet he failed to make progress even at home. There were the strong Hamza and the valiant Omar-but what were they and the little band that they led in comparison with the thousands who stood aloof? Sad indeed must have been Mohammed's heart as he walked out into the freedom of his native city and reflected upon the slight progress that his cause had made, despite his confidence in the help and guidance of Allah al Razid, the Rightly Directing.

During all these years of meditation, prayer, fasting, and preaching, Kadija had been the good angel of the prophet. She believed in him and in the truth of his revelations; she was the first who had put her trust in the Allah whom he proclaimed; she strengthed him in all his purposes; through her he believed that Allah sent him comfort; whenever she heard aught that was disagreeable or contradic

tory, she counselled him to hope; she roused him in his state of lethargy and made his burdens light; she assured him that all the babble of his opponents would come to naught. Now the end of all this had arrived; Kadija died. (End of the year 619.) Not only did this affliction deprive Mohammed of a trusty adviser, but it reduced him to a condition of comparative poverty. Islam, also, that but for her might never have received its first inspiring impulse, lost in purity, and the revelations that were to form the growing Koran, lost in dignity. The ties of affection and interest that for a quarter of a century had been growing stronger and stronger, were in an instant forever broken. No wonder that the prophet, always open to accesses of uncontrollable emotion, was inconsolable, and mourned as one who could not be comforted. Though he was to have many other wives, he was never to forget the memory of good Kadija, nor was he ever to lose the inspiration of her life; so little destructible is the influence of a good woman. The lover was never lost in the husband, and how much dearer the wife was than the bride, none but those who have felt a stimulus such as she gave can know.

At about this time the sky was again darkened. Abu Talib, the uncle, who, through all the years of obliquy, had stood as a wall between Mohammed and his enemies, was also taken away. Thus, spiritual counsel and temporal aid alike seemed to be passing from him at once. The chivalry of Abu Talib in protecting the prophet when he did not believe in his mission is remarkable, and it is a strong

A MEETING AT TAIF.

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testimony to the honesty of Mohammed that he could make such an impression on a man of so much force of character. The Koreishites, under the leadership of Abu Sofian, now returned to their annoying attacks upon Mohammed. They cast dirt upon his head in the street, and there was none to take his part. Converts were few, and he saw that if some positive advance were not promptly made, idolatry would soon destroy what little there was of the new faith.

Hopeless as the outlook at Mecca seemed, Mohammed thought that perhaps at Taif some one might be found who would embrace the truth. Accordingly he took the pilgrim-road towards Arafat; he passed through the rocky defiles and dismal wastes to the farther heights; thence he descended into the valley of flowers and fruits with reviving hope-into a region so bright and charming that it was fabled to have once been a part of Syria that had floated off during the deluge. Alas, there were other shrines at Taif, and other gods were firmly fixed in the regard of the inhabitants! The chiefs consented to meet him, but they repelled his arguments with the invincible logic of ridicule.

"Allah is one and I am his prophet," said Mohammed.

"Allah has no other apostle but thee to send to us?" asked one.

"I cannot dispute with thee," said another; “if thou art a prophet, thou art too grand a personage for me to pretend to meet in discussion; if thou art an impostor, I will not deign to talk with thee!"

Mohammed left the assembly in chagrin, only to encounter greater indignities from the people without, who, stirred up by the chiefs, followed him through the streets with cries and insults. Slaves and young roughs hurried him along as they made targets for missiles of his legs; and if he crouched down for a moment to protect himself from their bloody weapons, they forced him to rise and drag his lacerated body rapidly along. Then, when his spirit was almost gone, a pitying citizen gave him temporary shelter and a few grapes to strengthen and rest him; and the pursuing crowd allowed him to get out of the city in peace. Scarcely daring to look behind, he hastened towards Mecca, to which city his faithful servant, Zeyd, who had accompanied him to Taif, had gone to seek a place of abode for them both.

In the interval after these exciting scenes, it was not strange that the overstrained sensibilities of the prophet should render him vulnerable to attacks from visions, and accordingly tradition tells us that at this time his nervous imagination showed him certain of the jinns coming to listen to him. He halted at a place where there were an idol temple, a garden, and a grove, and, as his custom was, recited portions of the Koran. Seven, or it may be nine, or even more of the jinns, overheard his words, and they cried: "Give ear!" When the reading was concluded, they returned to their haunts, and preached to their fellows, saying:

"O our people!

Verily we have heard a book sent down since Moses,

THE JINNS listen.

Attesting Scripture that went before,

Guiding to truth and showing the right way.

O our people!

Obey the preacher of Allah,

And believe in him,

That he may forgive your sins,

And save you from awful woe."

-Sura xlvi.

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It was a comfort to the prophet in his low estate to feel that if men would not listen to him, these beings, made of pure fire, were prepared to give adherence to his cause; and thenceforward he was a preacher sent to jinns as well as to the creatures of clay. The vision did not make his way towards Mecca any more hopeful, however, and he was obliged for a time to loiter in his former mountain. haunts. At last Mutaim, one of those who had procured the removal of the ban, summoned his sons to his assistance, buckled on his armor, and said to Mohammed and Zeyd: "Enter!" while at the same time he addressed the Koreishites in these brave words:

"O ye Koreish, verily I have given to Mohammed the pledge of my protection; let not any among you harm him."

At this time of gloom (A.D. 620) Mohammed took to wife a widow named Sawda, for whom he had, as it seems, little affection; and also espoused a daughter of Abd el Kaba, named Ayesha, a mere child of some seven years, who became his favorite. Her father now changed his name, as has been already intimated, and was thereafter known as Abu Bekr, usually supposed to signify "the Father of the Vir