case twenty young camels) more fitly
given than the youth whom Khudijah rescued from poverty, and to whom she
gave the boon of her companionship and counsel. The marriage was fruitful;
two sons were born, the eldest Kasim, wherefore Mahomet received the title
of Abu-el-Kasim, the father of Kasim, but both these died in infancy.
There were also four daughters born to Mahomet--Zeineb, Rockeya, Umm
Kolthum, and Fatima. These were important later on for the marriages they
contracted with Mahomet's supporters, and indeed his whole position was
considerably solidified by the alliances between his daughters and his
chief adherents.

Ten years passed thus in prosperity and study. Mahomet was no longer
obscure but the chief of a wealthy house, revered for his piety, and
looked upon already as one of those "to whom God whispers in the ear."
His character now exhibited more than ever the marks of the poet and
seer; the time was at hand when all the subdued enthusiasm of his mind
was to break forth in the opening Suras of the Kuran. The inspiration had
not yet descended upon him, but it was imminent, and the shadow of its
stern requirements was about him as he attended to his work of
supervising Khadijah's wealth or took part in the religious life of
Mecca.

In A.D. 605, when Mahomet was thirty-five years old, the chief men of
Mecca decided to rebuild the Kaaba. The story of its rebuilding is
perhaps the most interesting of the many strange, naive tales of this
adventurous city. Valley floods had shattered the house of the gods. It
was roofless, and so insecure that its treasury had already been rifled
by blasphemous men. It stood only as high as the stature of a man, and
was made simply of stones laid one above the other. Rebuilding was
absolutely necessary, but materials were needed before the work could
begin, and this delayed the Kureisch until chance provided them with
means of accomplishing their design. A Grecian ship had been driven in a
Red Sea storm upon the coast near Mecca and was rapidly being broken up.
When the Kureisch heard of it, they set out in a body to the seashore and
took away the wood of the ship to build a roof for the Kaaba. It is a
significant fact that tradition puts a Greek carpenter in Mecca who was
able to advise them as to the construction. The Meccans themselves were
not sufficiently skilled in the art of building.

But now a great difficulty awaited them. Who was to undertake the
responsibility