By these currents Mohammed's outward life was apparently as untouched as that of any other average citizen. Professor Davidson used to say that in youth men get their visions, and see the glory of the sun upon the distant mountains of life's horizon, and the rest of life is but a following--often through the darkness--towards the light seen in {31} youth. If it were so with Mohammed he gave little evidence of all that was passing in his mind. He lived a domestic life with Khadîjah and a now growing family of children, of whom he was very fond. Every evening he performed idolatrous rites in his home, and he named at any rate some of his children after heathen deities. He filled his place, no doubt, as a wealthy, and therefore leading citizen of Mecca, but beyond that he was known as a retiring, thoughtful man, who preferred the seclusion and quiet of home life to the rush and scramble of the market and the rostrum. Who would have thought that this man would mightily affect the destiny and history of the whole human race, that he would be the founder of an Empire which within a hundred years would hold sway from Cadiz to Bokhara, would annihilate the Empire of Persia and lay siege to Byzantium? Who would have thought that twelve hundred years after, this man's name, coupled with that of the Almighty, would be invoked in prayer by just over two hundred millions of mankind, and proclaimed {32} from ten thousand minarets: '_There is no God but God: Mohammed is the Apostle of God_'? How was it? Why was it? QUESTIONS ON CHAPTER II 1. What is a blood-feud? Illustrate your answer. How far is the system good which gives rise to blood-feuds? 2. Comment on Mohammed's appearance. In what ways was it an index to his character? 3. Describe the Fair of Ukaz. What was the use of it? 4. What hope existed of the Arabs becoming a united nation? 5. How did Mohammed's marriage come about? What effect did it have upon his life? [1] The area of Arabia about equals that of India. {33} CHAPTER III THE PROPHET OF ARABIA 'We must be as courteous to a man as to a picture, which we are willing to give the advantage of a good light.'--EMERSON. [Sidenote: Mohammed's first 'Revelation.'] We come now to the event in Mohammed's life about which there has been both the keenest investigation and bitterest controversy. Scholars have elaborated very different theories about the 'method' of Mohammed's inspiration, partly because of its true importance as the crisis and turning-point of his life, and partly because men used to think that the understanding of it was the key to the reading of Mohammed's character. Without troubling ourselves with the various conflicting theories, we shall confine ourselves to what is sufficiently difficult--brushing aside all fancies and excrescences with which the records are garnished, we shall tell as nearly as possible what happened, or at any rate give Mohammed's account of it. {34}