Meccan priests) raiding was forbidden, in order to enable the pilgrimage to be safely made. In addition to this it would seem that all Mecca counted as sanctuary--i.e. no blood might under any circumstances be shed there. The community lived by purveying to pilgrims and the carrying trade; and both these operations led to the immigration of strangers. Mahomet's Family. There seems to be no doubt that Mahomet was himself a member of the tribe Koreish, and indeed too many of his relatives figure in history to permit of his parentage being questioned. His cousin 'Ali, fourth caliph, was the son of Abu Talib, whose name attests the historical character of the kindred name `Abd al-Mottalib, Mahomet's grandfather: for the fact that this name is in part enigmatical is certainly no argument against its genuineness. In the 3rd century of Islam a document was shown in which a man of San'a in Yemen acknowledged that he had borrowed from `Abd al-Mottalib 1000 silver dirhems of the Hudaida standard, and Allah with the two "angels" (probably a euphemism for the goddesses Al-lat and al-`Uzza) served as witness; it is difficult to see why such a document should have been forged. The name Hashim (for `Abd al-Mottalib's father) may or may not be historical; here, as in the ascending line throughout, we have subjects without predicates. The name of `Abd al-Mottalib's son, who was Mahomet's father, is given as `Abdallah; the correctness of this has been questioned, because "Servant of Allah" would seem to be too appropriate, and the name was often given by the Prophet to converts as a substitute for some pagan appellation. This, however, is hypercritical, as the name of the father could not easily be altered, when relatives abounded, and it would seem that at one time the Prophet made no theological use of the name Allah, for which he intended to substitute Rahman. The name of his mother is given as Aminah, and with this one of his own titles, Amin, agrees; although the Arabs do not appear to bring the two into connexion. Her father's name is given as Wahb, and she is brought into relation with a Medinese tribe called the Banu `Adi b. al-Najjar, to whom she is said to have brought her son in his early infancy. The circumstances may have been suggested by his later connexion with that place; yet in what seems a historical narrative her grave is mentioned as known to be at Abwa, midway between the two cities, whence this early bond between the Prophet and his future home may have really existed. His own name is given in the Koran in the forms Ahmad and the familiar Muhammad; in contemporary poetry we also find the form Mahmud. Similar variation between derivatives from the same root is found in proper names which occur in early poetry; the meaning of all would be "the praised," if the root be given its Arabic signification--"the desired" if interpreted from the Hebrew.