er. I cannot do better than quote Moulvie Ameer Ali of Calcutta
on the subject, who has very judiciously criticised the same: "Passing
now to the men executed," he says, "one can at once see how it has been
exaggerated. Some say they were 400; others have carried the number even
up to 900. But Christian historians generally give it as varying from
700 to 800. I look upon this as a gross exaggeration. Even 400 would
seem an exaggerated number. The traditions agree in making the warlike
materials of the Bani Koreiza consist of 300 cuirasses, 500 bucklers,
1,500 sabres, &c. In order to magnify the value of the spoil, the
traditions probably exaggerated these numbers.[254] But taking them as
they stand, and remembering that such arms are always kept greatly in
excess of the number of fighting men, I am led to the conclusion that
the warriors could not have been more than 200 or 300. The mistake
probably arose from confounding the whole body of prisoners who fell
into the hands of the Moslems with those executed."[255]

Even 200 seems to be a large number, as all of the prisoners were put
up for the night in the house of Bint-al-Haris,[256] which would have
been insufficient for such a large number.

[Footnote 250: Miscellaneous Writings of Francis Lieber, Vol. II.
Contributions to Political Science, p. 273, Philadelphia, 1881.]

[Footnote 251: Some of the Koreizites were released, among whom we hear
of Zobeir Ibn Bata, and Rifaa. They were pardoned by Mohammad.]

[Footnote 252: Muir's Life of Mahomet, Vol. III, p. 279.]

[Footnote 253: _History of Mohammad's Campaigns_: Edited by Von Kremer,
p. 374.]

[Footnote 254: "Compare the remarks of Ibn-Khaldun (Prelegomenes d' Ibn
Khaldoun, traduits par M. de Slane, Part I, p. 14)."]

[Footnote 255: A Critical Examination of the Life and Teachings of
Mohammed, by Syed Ameer Ali, Moulvi, M.A., LL.B., of the Inner Temple,
Barrister-at-Law, p. 113: William and Norgate, London, 1873.]

[Footnote 256: Ibn Hisham, p. 689. Others say the males were kept in the
house of Osman-bin-Zaed, and the females and children in the house of
Bint-al-Haris. _Vide_ Insan-al-Oyoon, by Halabi. Vol. III, p. 93.]

_Some Miscellaneous Objections Refuted._

1.--_Omm Kirfa._

[Sidenote: 72. The execution of Omm Kirfa for brigandage.]

The barbarous execution of Omm Kirfa, a female, who was notorious as the
mistress of a nest of robbers, by tying her each leg to a separate camel
and being torn asu