roaring of the young camel.' 'Umar ibnu'l Khattab says: "When inspiration descended on the Apostle of God, there used to be heard near his face as it were the buzzing ¹ of bees."

Somewhat similarly we read in the Turkish work, Mir'at i Ka' inat: "When ² inspiration came with a message of threatening and warning, it descended with a terrible sound like that of a bell .... On the authority of Abu Hurairah, too, it is related that, when inspiration descended on the Apostle, they used to bathe his sacred head with henna, because of the headache that used to come on."

In the Turkish Insanu'l 'Uyun of 'Al' Halabi we read: "Zaid ibn Thabit relates: 'When inspiration descended on the Prophet, he became very heavy. Once his leg fell upon mine, and, by God, there is no such heavy leg as was that of the Apostle of God. Sometimes a revelation would come to him when he was on his camel. Then it shuddered as if it would collapse, and it usually knelt down .... As often as the Prophet received inspiration, it seemed as if his soul were being taken from him, for he had always a kind of swoon and looked like one intoxicated."

These strange phenomena did not begin in Muhammad's case only just before he claimed to be a Prophet. Of his childhood we know only a few facts, but one of them is that, when he was quite a young boy, living in the desert with his foster-parents, something similar occurred. The story is differently told by different authorities, but Muslim's account is this, based on a Tradition handed down from Anas: "As ³ for the Apostle of God, Gabriel came to him while he was playing with the (other) lads. He took him and threw (فَصَرَعَهُ) him on the ground and split his heart. Then he took out of it a drop of clotted blood, and said, 'This is Satan's portion of thee.' Then he washed it (the heart) in a basin of gold, in Zamzam-water, then

he repaired it, and restored it to its place. And the lads came running to his mother—i.e. to his fostermother—and said: 'Verily Muhammad has been killed.' They therefore went to meet him, and he had changed colour." Anas said: "I used to see the mark of the needle on his chest." The marginal note to this Tradition in the Mishkat calls attention to the fact that Muhammad's chest was opened on at least two other occasions,—during his Mi'raj, and when Gabriel visited him while residing in the cave at Hira. Leaving aside the reference to the Mi'raj, we see that the phenomenon which occurred in his childhood bore a great resemblance to that which often attended what was called in his later life the "descent of inspiration (الوحى)" upon Muhammad.

In the Siratu'r Rasul ² of Ibn Hisham we are told that Halimah's husband fancied that something very serious was coming upon young Muhammad, and said. to her: "Halimah, I fear that this lad has become afflicted (قَدْ أُصِيبَ); therefore unite him with his people ere that become manifest in him." When Halimah therefore gave him back to his mother Aminah, the latter was surprised and said, 'Dost thou then fear that Satan has come upon him?" His foster-mother admitted that she did.

The question arises: How can it be proved that the phenomena which Tradition mentions really denoted the visits of Gabriel to Muhammad and the descent of Inspiration upon him? Historians inform us that the great Roman general Julius Caesar, the Emperor Peter the Great of Russia, and the first Emperor of the French, Napoleon Bonaparte, besides other great men, especially great warriors, exhibited the same symptoms. But they were not prophets or apostles of God. Those who were in attendance upon these men thought that they were afflicted with some terrible disease.

Some of our Muslim readers have doubtless studied