as sharp and prompt, in the days of Omar, the Companion of Mahomet, as in those of the intolerant Omar II. The truth seems to be that every day narrowed the field of subjects open to discussion, and on which new traditions needed to be advanced. Judgments professing to proceed from Mahomet, or to be founded on principles enunciated by him, were gradually framed and promulgated for every kind of case transpiring in the daily concerns of life. The system became fixed and stereotyped. And, moreover, the Companions of Mahomet, who alone could authoritatively declare his practice and judgment, one by one dropped off from the scene: and with them ceased the creative freedom and freshness of the earliest era. 

A few examples will illustrate the origin and growth of tradition. Mughîra laid claim to a certain property on the strength of an utterance attributed to Mahomet. The Caliph, Abu Bekr, refused to admit the claim until the statement was corroborated by witness; Ibn Maslama testified that he had heard the Prophet affirm the claim, whereupon the Caliph gave judgment in Mughîra's favour. Again, during Mahomet's lifetime, Sobaya lost her first husband, and, shortly after, began to deck herself out in a manner which plainly implied that she already entertained thoughts of attracting a second. A discreet and pious Moslem, scandalised at her conduct, told her that she should tarry four months before thinking of another marriage; but she, regarding this unreasonable, repaired to Mahomet, who confirmed the precept. When, after the Prophet's death, people began to gather up his sayings, a certain collector of tradition wrote to a friend to visit Sobaya, and record from her own lips an exact account of her interview and of the Prophet's precept; and hence the Sunna regarding it. On one occasion, Muâvia, while 'engaged in the Syrian campaign, referred a doubtful point connected with the rules of warfare to Aly, as the person most conversant with the views of Mahomet. So likewise, the son of Abbâs, a renowned traditionist, was consulted on the question whether women and slaves accompanying the army were entitled to share in the booty; his decision, based on the analogy of the Prophet's practice, was that as women and slaves used to be present for the care of the wounded,