--"Insha'llah!"--If Allah be willing! [Illustration: (Calligraphy) _Allah will perhaps establish goodwill between yourselves and those of them with whom ye are at enmity, and Allah is Powerful: and Allah is Gracious, Merciful._] _This book was finished at Bou-Sâada, on the Twenty-seventh day of the month of Ramadhan; in the Year 1334 of the Hegira--the 28th of July, A.D. 1916._ _O Allah! be indulgent towards its authors; excuse the extravagant audacity that urged them on in their hope of doing good, to affront such a vast subject, despite the scantiness of their knowledge._ _O Thou, the Omniscient! pardon them the errors which, through ignorance, they may have committed in such a sublime history as that of Thy Messenger, Our Lord Mohammad, the Seal of the Prophets._ _May Allah pour out for him His Blessings and His Favours!_ _Likewise on his Relatives,_ _And on his Companions!_ _Amin._ Étienne DINET. Sliman ben IBRAHIM. [Illustration: _A traditional old Scribe of the Desert._ Calligraphy: _One's pen should be ennobled; that is, by treating of worthy matters._] THE BOOK WAS FINISHED IN THE YEAR 1335 OF THE HEGIRA [Illustration: MAP OF THE HIJAZ AND THE ROAD TO SYRIA] BIBLIOGRAPHY Fearing to enlarge this work too much, we prefer to publish the notes, which we deem necessary for its justification, under the title: "L'Orient vu de l'Occident," (The East Seen from the West), forming a pamphlet to be issued later on. Nevertheless, we give as follows a list of those works which we have specially consulted. WORKS IN ARABIC "Al-Qur'an wa huwa'l-Huda wa'l-Furqan."--"Tafsir Anwaru't Tanzil wa Asraru't Tawil," by Al-Baydawi, (Commonly referred to as "The Commentary of Al-Baydawi.")--"Tafsiru'l Qur'ani'l Karim," by the Shaykh Mohammad Abduh. ("The Commentary of the Shaykh Mohammad Abduh.")--"Siratu'n-Rasul," by Ibn Hisham. (Ibn Hisham's "Life of the Prophet.")--"Kitabu't Tabaqat," by Ibn Sad. (The "Tabaqat" of Ibn Sad.)--"Insanu'l-'Uyun fi sirati'l-Amiri'l-Mamun," by Ali ibn Burhanu'd-Dini'l-Halabi.--"Nuru'l yaqin fi sirati Sayyidi'l-Marsulin," by Mohammad Al-Khudri.--"Kitabu's-Sahih," by Al-Bukhari. (The "Sahih" of Al-Bukhari.)--"Rihlat," by Abi'l Husayn ibn Jubayr. (The "Travels of Ibn Jubayr.")--"Ar-Rihlatu'l Hijaziyya," by Mohammad Al-Batanuni.--"Al-Bourdate," by the Shaykh Al-Busiri. (The "Burda," or "Mantle Poem of Al-Busiri.")--"Ummu'l Qura," by Al-Kawakibi. ISLAMIC WORKS, IN ENGLISH "The spirit of Islam", by Ameer Ali Syied.--"Islamic Review," edited by Khwaja Kamal-ud-Din, B.A., L.L.B. WORKS IN FRENCH, OR TRANSLATED INTO FRENCH