All these portents caused fear in the hearts of those who witnessed them; but, despite the predictions of Al Moudzenab, the Parsee sorcerer, who had been warned in a dream that a great upheaval in the destiny of the universe would be caused by an event to take place in Arabia, the occurrence was unperceived: the birth of a child of the Quraish tribe at Makkah, a tiny town lost in the midst of the wilderness, unknown to the gorgeous monarchs of East and West alike, or else despised by them. [Illustration: Calligraphy: _Then when ye have ended the prayer, make mention of Allah, standing, and sitting, and reclining._] [Illustration: (Ornamental page) CHAPTER THE SECOND] [Illustration: _The Night of the Maulid, the Prophet's Birth day._ _Moslems leaving a village Mosque._] [Illustration: (Calligraphy) _Have We not opened thy breast for thee? * And taken off from thee thy burden?_] CHAPTER THE SECOND [Sidenote: THE BIRTH OF MOHAMMAD] Our Lord Mohammad (May Allah shower His Blessings upon Him and grant Him Salvation!) was born a few seconds before the rising of the Morning Star, on a Monday, the twelfth day of the month Rabi-ul-Awwal of the first year of the Era of the Elephant. (August 29th, A.D. 570). When he came into the world, he was devoid of all pollution, circumcised naturally and the umbilical cord had been cut by the hand of the angel Jibra'il. The atmosphere of the city being fatal to infants, the leading citizens were in the habit of confiding their children to Bedouin wet-nurses who brought them up in their Badya-land, where dwelt the Bedouins, or nomads. Shortly after the birth of Mohammad, about a dozen women belonging to the tribe of the Bani Sad, all bronzed by the bracing breezes of their country, arrived at Makkah, to seek nurslings. Upon one of them devolved the honour of suckling the Prophet of Allah. And she was Halimah, signifying "The Gentle". [Sidenote: MOHAMMAD'S CHILDHOOD WITH THE BANI SAD TRIBE IN THEIR BADYA LAND] Quoth Halimah bint Zuib: "It was a barren year, and both my husband, Haris bin Abdul Ozza and myself, were plunged in dire distress. We made up our minds to go to Makkah where I purposed to seek a foster-child whose grateful parents would help us out of our miserable plight. We joined a caravan where there were many women of our tribe, bound likewise on the same errand. "The she-ass I was riding was so thin and exhausted by privation that she came nigh upon breaking down on the road and we did not get a wink of sleep all night by reason of our poor child being tortured by the pangs of hunger. Neither in my breasts, nor in the udder of a female camel driven by my husband, did there remain one drop of milk to relieve my baby's pain. "All sleepless as I was, I fell a prey to despair. In my parlous state, could I hope to take charge of a suckling?