§ 42. Life and Character of Mohammed.
Mohammed, an unschooled, self-taught, semi-barbarous son of nature, of noble birth, handsome
person, imaginative, energetic, brave, the ideal of a Bedouin chief, was destined to become the
political and religious reformer, the poet, prophet, priest, and king of Arabia.
He was born about a.d. 570 at Mecca, the only child of a young widow named Amina.^150
His father Abdallah had died a few months before in his twenty-fifth year on a mercantile journey
in Medina, and left to his orphan five camels, some sheep and a slave girl.^151 He belonged to the
heathen family of the Hàshim, which was not wealthy, but claimed lineal descent from Ishmael,
and was connected with the Koreish or Korashites, the leading tribe of the Arabs and the hereditary
guardians of the sacred Kaaba.^152 Tradition surrounds his advent in the world with a halo of
marvellous legends: he was born circumcised and with his navel cut, with the seal of prophecy
written on his back in letters of light; he prostrated himself at once on the ground, and, raising his
hands, prayed for the pardon of his people; three persons, brilliant as the sun, one holding a silver
goblet, the second an emerald tray, the third a silken towel, appeared from heaven, washed him
seven times, then blessed and saluted him as the "Prince of Mankind." He was nursed by a healthy
Bedouin woman of the desert. When a boy of four years he was seized with something like a fit of
epilepsy, which Wâckidi and other historians transformed into a miraculous occurrence. He was
often subject to severe headaches and feverish convulsions, in which he fell on the ground like a
drunken man, and snored like a camel.^153 In his sixth year he lost his mother on the return from
Medina, whither she had taken him on camel’s back to ’visit the maternal relations of his father,
and was carried back to Mecca by his nurse, a faithful slave girl. He was taken care of by his aged
grandfather, Abd al Motkalib, and after his death in 578 by his uncle Abu Tâlib, who had two wives
and ten children, and, though poor and no believer in his nephew’s mission, generously protected
him to the end.
He accompanied his uncle on a commercial journey to Syria, passing through the desert,
ruined cities of old, and Jewish and Christian settlements, which must have made a deep impression
on his youthful imagination.
Mohammed made a scanty living as an attendant on caravans and by watching sheep and
goats. The latter is rather a disreputable occupation among the Arabs, and left to unmarried women
(^150) We know accurately the date of Mohammed’s death (June 8, 632), but the year of his birth only by reckoning backwards;
and as his age is variously stated from sixty-one to sixty-five, there is a corresponding difference in the statements of the year
of his birth. De Sacy fixes it April 20, 571, von Hammer 569, Muir Aug. 20, 570, Sprenger between May 13, 567, and April
13, 571, but afterwards (I. 138), April 20, 571, as most in accordance with early tradition.
(^151) According to Ihn Ishâk and Wâckidi. Bahador adopts this tradition, in the last of his essays which treats of "the Birth
and Childhood of Mohammed." But according to other accounts, Abdallah died several months (seven or eighteen) after
Mohammed’s birth. Muir. I. 11; Sprenger, I. 138.
(^152) On the pedigree of Mohammed, see an essay in the work of Syed Ahmed Khan Bahador, and MuirI1. 242-271. The
Koreish were not exactly priests, but watched the temple, kept the keys, led the processions, and provided for the pilgrims.
Hâshim, Mohammed’s great-grandfather (b.a. d.442), thus addressed the Koreish: "Ye are the neighbors of God and the keepers
of his house. The pilgrims who come honoring the sanctity of his temple, are his guests; and it is meet that ye should entertain
them above all other guests. Ye are especially chosen of God and exalted unto this high dignity; wherefore honor big guests
and refresh them." He himself set an example of munificent hospitality, and each of the Koreish contributed according to his
ability. Muir I. CCXLVII.
(^153) Sprenger has a long chapter on this disease of Mohammed, which he calls with Schönlein, hysteria muscularis I.
207-268.