omething of
the same trend of thought in mind.

His "fits" before the oncoming of a new Sura have been mentioned.
Eventually, he so perfected his technique that he could throw a
cataleptic fit and produce a message without any previous preparation.
He would drum up a crowd with his ludicrous snortings and puffings until
the resounding cry, "Inspiration hath descended on the Prophet!" assured
him that he had a sufficiently large audience to warrant the
out-spurting of a new Sura. While in a room that was obviously empty, he
declared that all seats were occupied by angels; he cultivated suave and
benign expression; he flattered and astounded his followers by telling
them facts which he had presumably acquired through private information;
he took the most painstaking care of his person, painting his eyes and
perfuming his entire body daily, and wearing his hair long. Ayesha, one
of the Prophet's wives, remarked that the Prophet loved three things:
women, scent and food, and that he had his heart's content of the first
two, but not of the last. In fact, Mohammed, himself, argued that these
two innocuous diversions intensified the ecstasy of his prayers. In the
Koran's description of heaven so much emphasis was put on food that a
jolly Jew objected on the grounds that such continual feasting must of
necessity be followed by a purgation. The Prophet, however, swore that
it would not even be necessary to blow the nose in Paradise, since all
bodily impurities would be carried off by a perspiration "as odoriferous
as musk."

When his wife Khadija was dying he comforted her with the assurance that
she, together with three other well-known women, the Virgin Mary,
Potiphar's wife, and "Kulthum," Moses' sister, would occupy his chamber
in Paradise.

On Mohammed's escape to Medina, a long series of holy wars began which,
like all holy wars, were characterized by extreme brutality. The Koran
of the period contains such pacific doctrines as these: "The sword is
the key of Heaven and Hell; a drop of blood shed in the cause of God, a
night spent in arms is of more avail than two months of fasting or
prayer; whosoever falls in battle, his sins are forgiven. At the day of
Judgment his wounds shall be resplendent as vermilion, and odoriferous
as musk; and the loss of limbs shall be supplied by the wings of angels
and cherubim ... God loveth not the Transgressors; kill them wheresoever
ye find them."

Mohammed, no less than many other r