The last moments of Mohammed would seem to prove that he was far from possessing an ignoble mind. Feeling his end approaching, he repaired to the mosque, supported by his friend Ali. Mounting the tribune, he made a prayer, and then, turning to the assembly, uttered these words: "Mussulmans, I am about to die. No one, therefore, need any longer fear me; if I have struck any one among you, here is my breast, let him strike me in return: if I have wrongfully taken the property of any one, here is my purse, let him remunerate himself: if I have humbled any one, let him now {205} spurn me: I surrender myself to the justice of my countrymen!" The people sobbed aloud: one individual alone demanded three drachms of the dying Prophet, who instantly discharged the debt with interest. After this he took an affectionate leave of the brave Medinians who had so faithfully defended him, gave liberty to his slaves, and ordered the arrangements for his funeral. His last interview with his wife and daughter, and Omar and Ali, his friends and disciples, was marked by much tenderness. Sorrow and lamentation were universal throughout Arabia on this occasion; and his daughter Fatima died of grief for his loss. The respect and veneration entertained by his followers for Mohammed is almost inconceivable. Their doctors have gravely asserted in their writings that the world was created for him; that the first thing made was light, and that that light became the substance of the soul of Mohammed, etc. Some of them have maintained that the Alcoran was uncreated, while others have adopted a contrary opinion; and out of these discordant views have arisen numerous sects, and even wars that have deluged Asia with blood. The life of Mohammed was terminated by poison, which had been administered to him some years before by a Jewess named Zainab, whose brother had been slain by Ali. This woman, to avenge the death of her brother, poisoned some roasted lamb which she served up for the Prophet. Scarcely had he put a morsel of it into his mouth, when, instantly rejecting it, he exclaimed that the meat was poisoned. Notwithstanding the prompt use of antidotes, the injurious consequences were so severe, that he suffered from them during the remainder of his life, and died four years after, in the sixty-third year of his age. {206} B, page 27. _Kaled, surnamed the Sword of God, &c._