es of supposed events that might have given rise to an
expression in the Koran (Sura XXXIII, verse 37)--if not wilful
misrepresentations of story-tellers and enemies of Islam--which the
European writers represent in the garb of facts. The words of the Koran
which have been the father of the story are:--

"And when thou saidst to him unto whom God had shewn favour, and
unto whom thou also hadst shewn favour, 'keep thy wife to thyself,
and fear God,' and thou didst hide in thy mind what God would bring
to light, and thou didst fear men; but more right it had been to
fear God."

This shows Mohammad dissuaded Zeid from divorcing his wife,
notwithstanding the great facility of divorce common at that time in
Arabia.

Sir W. Muir is not justified in copying these stories from Tabari. They
are not related by earliest biographers from any authentic and reliable
source. He ought to have rejected them as spurious fabrications under
historical criticism, as he rejects other traditions which are on a
better footing of truth than these false and maliciously forged stories.

[Sidenote: Sir W. Muir's conjectures not justified.]

21. Sir W. Muir has exceeded the limit he himself had marked out for a
judicious historian of Mohammad when he abounds in his wild fancies, and
observes--

"Zeid went straightway to Mahomet, and declared his readiness to
divorce Zeinab for him. This Mahomet declined: 'Keep thy wife to
thyself,' he said, 'and fear God.' _But Zeid could plainly see that
these words proceeded from unwilling lips, and that the Prophet had
still a longing eye for Zeinab._"[371]

Now this is a mere libellous surmise. He goes on still with his
defamatory conjectures, and writes:--

"Still the passion for Zeinab could not be smothered; it continued
to burn within the heart of Mahomet, and at last bursting forth,
scattered other considerations to the wind."[372]

Mohammad never professed to have received a divine command to marry
Zeinab. It was not necessary for him to have done so. The outcry raised
by the Pagan Arabs was not because they suspected an intrigue on the
Prophet's part to secure a divorce, but because they looked upon an
adopted son in the light of a true son, and considered, therefore, the
marriage with Zeinab, after her divorce from Zeid, as falling within the
prohibited degrees. This adoptive affinity was already abolished in the
Koran (Sura XXX