2 42. LIFE AND CHARACTER OF MOHAMMED. 163
prophets of Israel and the fishermen of Galilee. It is a dis puted question among Moslem and Christian seholars whether he could even read and write.1 Probably he could not. He dictated the Koran from inspiration to his disciples and clerks. What knowledge he possessed, lie picked up on the way from intercourse with men, from hearing books read, and especially from his travels.
Li his twenty-fifth year he married a rich widow, Chadijah (or Chadidsha), who was fifteen years older than himself, and who had previously hired him to carry on the mercantile busi ness of her former husband. Her father was opposed to the match ; but she made and kept him drunk until the ceremony was completed. He took charge of her caravans with great suc cess, and made several journeys. The marriage was happy and fruitful of six children, two sons and four daughters ; but all died except little Fat i ma, who became the mother of innumera ble legitimate and illegitimate descendants of the prophet. He also adopted Ali, whose close connection with him became so important in the history of Islam. He was faithful to Chadi jah, and held her in grateful remembrance after her death.2 He used to say, " Chadijah believed in me when nobody else did." He married afterwards a number of wives, who caused him much trouble and scandal. His favorite wife, Ayesha, was more jealous of the dead Chadijah than any of her twelve or more
1 Sprcngcr discusses the question, and answers it in the affirmative, Vol. II. 398 sqq. The Koran ('29) says: "Formerly [before I sent down the book, i. e. the Koran] thou didst not read any book nor write one with thy right hand." From this, some Moslems infer that after the reception of the Koran, he was supernaturally taught to read and write ; but others hold that he was ignorant of both. Syed Ahmed Khan Bahador says : "Not the least doubt now exists that the Prophet was wholly unacquainted with the art of writing, being also, as a matter of course (?), unable to read the hand-writing of others ; for which rea son, and for this only, he was called Ummee" (illiterate).
7 Sprcnger attributes his faithfulness to Chadyga (as he spells the name) not to his merit, but to his dependence. She kept her fortune under her own con trol, and gave him only as much as he needed.
164 FOUETH PEKIOD. A. D. 590-1049.
living rivals, for he constantly held up the toothless old woman as the model of a wife.
On his commercial journeys to Syria, he became acquainted with Jews and Christians, and acquired an imperfect knowledge of their traditions. He spent much of his time in retirement, prayer, fasting, and meditation. He had violent convulsions and epileptic fits, which his enemies, and at first he himself, traced to demoniacal possessions, but afterwards to the over powering presence of God. His soul was fired with the idea of the divine unity, which became his ruling passion; and then he awoke to the bold thought that he was a messenger of God, called to warn his countrymen to escape the judgment and the damnation of hell by forsaking idolatry and worshipping the only true God. His monotheistic enthusiasm was disturbed, though not weakened, by his ignorance and his imperfect sense of the difference between right and wrong.
In his fortieth year (A.D. 610), he received the call of Ga briel, the archangel at the right hand of God, who announced the birth of the Saviour to the Virgin Mary. The first revela tion was made to him in a trance in the wild solitude of Mount Hira, an hour's walk from Mecca. He was directed " to cry in the name of the Lord." He trembled, as if something dreadful had happened to him, and hastened home to his wife, who told him to rejoice, for he would be the prophet of his people. He waited for other visions ; but none came. He went up to Mount Hir& again — this time to commit suicide. But as often as he approached the precipice, he beheld Gabriel at the end of the horizon saying to him : " I am Gabriel, and thou art Moham med, the prophet of God. Fear not !" He then commenced his career of a prophet and founder of a new religion, which combined various elements of the three religions represented in Arabia, but was animated and controlled by the faith in Allah, as an almighty, ever-present and working will. From this time on, his life was enacted before the eyes of the world, and is embodied in his deeds and in the Koran.