nuine one; and for this very reason it was not
accepted by Ibn Ishak or even by Wakidi, so prone to the recital of
apocryphal traditions.

[Sidenote: 56. Irving and Muir quoted: concluding remarks.]

Referring to the above attempted assassination Mr. Washington Irving
says: "During this period of his career Mahomet in more than one
instance narrowly escaped falling by the hand of an assassin. He himself
is charged with the use of insidious means to rid himself of an enemy,
for it is said that he sent Amru Ibn Omeya on a secret errand to Mecca,
to assassinate Abu Sofian, but the plot was discovered, and the assassin
only escaped by rapid flight. The charge, however, is not well
substantiated, and is contrary to his general character and
conduct."[230]

Sir W. Muir writes: "There is just a shadow of possibility that the
tradition may have been fabricated by the anti-Omeyad party to throw
odium on the memory of Abu Sofian, as having been deemed by Mahomet
worthy of death. But this is not to be put against the evidence of
unanimous and apparently independent traditions."[231] But, in fact,
there are no unanimous and apparently independent traditions of the
command of Mohammad to assassinate Abu Sofian; there is only one and but
one, by Ibn Sad, which is wholly unreliable, and that too from the lips
of the would-be assassin himself who before the introduction of Islam
was a professional cutthroat, whose narration, therefore, deserves not
our belief.

Even if it be taken for granted that Mohammad did send some one to
assassinate Abu Sofian, who had already sent some one to assassinate
Mohammad as related by Ibn Sad, it was justified in self-defence. It was
a measure for retaliation, not one of mere revenge, but only a means of
protective retribution, which is lawful under the military law.[232]

[Footnote 205: Selections from the Kur-an by Edward William Lane, with
an Introduction by Stanley Lane Poole. Intro., p. xliv: Truebner & Co.,
London, 1879.]

[Footnote 206: Islam under the Arabs, by R.D. Osborn, p. 60, London,
1876.]

[Footnote 207: Wakidi's Campaigns of Mohammad, pp. 172 & 173: Calcutta
Baptist Mission Press; edited by A. Von Kremer.]

[Footnote 208: Sir W. Muir writes that "Hishami says, that Mahomet,
being vexed by Asma's verses, said _publicly_, 'Who will rid me of this
woman?'" But there is no such word in Ibn Hisham which may be rendered
'_publicly_.']

[Footnote 209: Ibn Hisham, p. 994. Wakidi does