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BIOGRAPHIES OF MOHAMMED
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After Abd Al Muttalib's death, the right to entertain the pilgrims passed aver
to his son Abu Tâlib, who, however, soon became so poor, that he left it to
his brother Abbas, who received also the political charge of the temple.
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It was, in fact, Abu Tâlib's poverty which obliged him to suggest that his
nephew should seek for a livelihood in Khadija's service. Thus Wâckidi:—
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When Mohammed reached his five-and-twentieth year, Abu Tâlib thus addressed
him:—"I am, as thou well knowest, a man without substance, and the
times deal hardly with me. Now here is a caravan of thine own tribe about to
set out for Syria, and Khadija, daughter of Khuweilid, needeth men from
amongst our people to send forth with her merchandise. If thou wert to offer
thyself in this capacity, she would readily accept thee."
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On a previous occasion, when
Mohammed was a boy of twelve, Abu Tâlib carried him- on a mercantile trip
to Syria: but this was simply because the orphan lad clung to his paternal
protector. So Wâckidi again:—
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When Abu Tâlib was on the point of starting, Mohammed was overcome by
affection and by grief, at the prospect of being separated from him: and Abu
Tâlib's bowels were moved, and he said, "I will take him with me, and he
shall not part from me, nor I from him, for ever."
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These are the only two mercantile
expeditions ever undertaken by Mohammed. What then becomes of the
"training at a proper "age, to the business of a merchant
traveller, and continuing in "the employ of his uncle till he was
twenty-five years old"?
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Equally wrong is the following
passage, regarding the evidence for the miracles of Mohammed:—
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By some of the more credulous of Mohammed's followers, there are, it is true,
several miracles attributed to him, as that he clave the moon asunder; that
trees went forth to meet him; that water flowed from between his fingers ;
that the stones saluted him; that a beam groaned to him; that a camel
complained to him; and that a shoulder of mutton informed him of its being
poisoned; together with several others. But these miracles were never alleged
by Mohammed himself, nor are they maintained by any respectable Moslem,
writer.
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On the contrary, these miracles
are maintained by every Mohammedan writer of the present day, whether
respectable or not. Even the honest Wâckidi, as Dr. Sprenger well styles
him, gives the whole of the miracles (excepting the first) specified above,
and very many more besides. Indeed, a Mohammedan
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