Talib was alive, the Koreish could not do to me anything so disagreeable."'

Five very influential men are mentioned by name as being his worst revilers. When the offensive and contemptuous words of one of them reached Mohammed, he is reported to have prayed, 'O God, make him blind, and deprive him of his son!' And when they hardened themselves in their wickedness and continued to mock him, God revealed the verse, 'Proclaim aloud what is enjoined upon thee. Turn away from the idolaters. We shall protect thee against the mockers.' No wonder, then, that all these five mockers met with a condign retribution at the hand of God, according to the following story narrated by Ibn Ishak, and evidently invented to illustrate the effects of a prophet's vindictive prayer and of God's promise to protect him against the mockers. 'Yezid Ibn Ruman has told me on the authority of Urwa or some other learned man, that once Gabriel came to Mohammed, whilst those mockers were circumambulating the temple. Mohammed arose and placed himself at his side. When El Aswad Ibn El Mottaleb passed by, the angel cast a green leaf in his face, and he became blind. Then came El Aswad Ibn Abd Yaghut, when the angel pointed at his body, and he was overtaken by dropsy, of which he died. Then came El Welid, when Gabriel pointed at the scar of an old wound on his heel, and the wound re-opened, so that he died of it. After him El Az passed by, and Gabriel pointed at the sole of his foot; and it happened soon after that the ass on which he was riding lay down on a thorny place and a thorn pierced the sole of his foot, so that he died of it. Lastly, when El Harith passed by, Gabriel pointed at his head, and it began to suppurate, till he died.'

But notwithstanding all these retributive judgments of a later date, the experienced bereavement left Mohammed in a very dejected condition, so that we are informed his uncle Abu Lahab, on hearing of his grief, went to him with the comforting assurance, 'Go about and do what thou wilt, as during the life of my brother Abu Talib. I swear by the goddess Lat, that no harm shall happen to thee as long as I live.' But Abu Lahab proved no Abu Talib. Not long after he had given this inspiriting promise, he changed his

mind and again declared himself his nephew's enemy, on the professed ground that when asked about the present state of his late father, Abdu-l-Mottaleb, Mohammed had pronounced him to be in hell, an answer by which he gave great offence to Abu Lahab and all the Koreish.

The position of Mohammed as one protected by his family at great inconvenience was very delicate, and imposed on him the obligation of refraining from steps disapproved of by his protectors. For although it was a matter of honour for the whole clan to guard his life and personal safety so long as he was recognised as one of themselves; yet in case he should give them grave cause of offence, they might withdraw their countenance from him and openly repudiate his claim to their protection. The unbelieving Koreish had long been making great efforts to induce his family thus to abandon him to their vengeance. This danger had now become more acute and Mohammed did not conceal it from himself. Abu Talib having been under deep obligation to him for acts of kindness, such as the adoption of one of his many children, allowed him great freedom of action, so long as the responsibility for his safety rested mainly with him. But after his death no leading member of the family was disposed to undertake the serious charge of making himself answerable for the good conduct of one who had already given so much trouble. Abu Lahab indeed came forward from a sense of duty and honour; but we have already seen how gladly he availed himself of the first chance of withdrawing again from the responsibility he had undertaken. The necessity was now forced upon Mohammed of acting with very great caution and of leaving unavenged the many petty annoyances to which he was still exposed. Thus his life in Mecca became more and more intolerable, and his prospects of gaining over the Meccans to his views, gloomy in the extreme.

(10.) Definitively rejected by Mecca, Mohammed addresses himself to other Arab Communities; but meets with no better reception.

Not minded, like Jesus Christ and His apostles, to trust implicitly and solely in God, Mohammed now cast about