y the year 610, Mohammed, at the
age of forty, was nothing more than a respectable but unknown tradesman
who had experienced no extraordinary crises, whose few existing
utterances were dull and insipid, and whose life seemed destined to
remain as insignificant and unsung as any other Arab's.

At this time, he began to retire for days at a time to a cave in the
foothills of Mount Hira, a hill several miles north of Mecca. Meanwhile
his business languished. As the months passed, he still continued to act
in the same incomprehensible manner; it was noticed that little by
little certain members of his immediate family attended him to his
refuge or gathered with him in some one of their houses. This continued
for several years until it was rumored that Mohammed, the camel driver,
was confidently claiming the honor of having made a great discovery;
namely, that "There is no God but Allah, and Mohammed is His Prophet."

By what process of thought had Mohammed come to exalt Allah not merely
above all Arabian gods, but above the gods of all times? Furthermore,
why was he so certain of his own intimate association with Allah? We
can understand this if we consider Mohammed in the light of a victim of
mental disease.

One account informs us that as Mohammed was wandering near the cave at
Mount Hira, "an angel from the sky cried to him, 'O Mohammed, I am
Gabriel!'" He was terrified and hurried home to impart his experience to
his wife.

"I see a light," he said to his wife, "and I hear a sound. I fear that I
am possessed." This idea was most distressing to a pious man. He became
pale, haggard; he wandered about on the hill near Mecca crying for help
to God. More than once he drew near the edge of the cliff and was
tempted to hurl himself down, and so put an end to his misery at once.
He lived much in the open air, gazing on the stars, watching the dry
ground grow green beneath the gentle rain. He pondered also on the
religious legends of the Jews, which he had heard related on his
journeys; and as he looked and thought, the darkness was dispelled, the
clouds disappeared, and the vision of God in solitary grandeur rose
within his mind, and there came upon him an impulse to speak of God.
There came upon him a belief that he was a messenger of God sent on
earth to restore the religion of Abraham, which the pagan Arabs had
polluted with idolatry, the Jews in corrupting their holy books. At the
same time he heard a Voice, and sometim