ne, here is my purse, let him remunerate himself: if I have humbled
any one, let him now {205} spurn me: I surrender myself to the justice
of my countrymen!" The people sobbed aloud: one individual alone
demanded three drachms of the dying Prophet, who instantly discharged
the debt with interest. After this he took an affectionate leave of
the brave Medinians who had so faithfully defended him, gave liberty to
his slaves, and ordered the arrangements for his funeral. His last
interview with his wife and daughter, and Omar and Ali, his friends and
disciples, was marked by much tenderness. Sorrow and lamentation were
universal throughout Arabia on this occasion; and his daughter Fatima
died of grief for his loss.

The respect and veneration entertained by his followers for Mohammed is
almost inconceivable. Their doctors have gravely asserted in their
writings that the world was created for him; that the first thing made
was light, and that that light became the substance of the soul of
Mohammed, etc. Some of them have maintained that the Alcoran was
uncreated, while others have adopted a contrary opinion; and out of
these discordant views have arisen numerous sects, and even wars that
have deluged Asia with blood.

The life of Mohammed was terminated by poison, which had been
administered to him some years before by a Jewess named Zainab, whose
brother had been slain by Ali. This woman, to avenge the death of her
brother, poisoned some roasted lamb which she served up for the
Prophet. Scarcely had he put a morsel of it into his mouth, when,
instantly rejecting it, he exclaimed that the meat was poisoned.
Notwithstanding the prompt use of antidotes, the injurious consequences
were so severe, that he suffered from them during the remainder of his
life, and died four years after, in the sixty-third year of his age.

{206}

B, page 27.

_Kaled, surnamed the Sword of God, &c._

The feats of arms ascribed by historians to Kaled resemble those of a
hero of romance. He was at first the enemy of the great Arabian
leader, and vanquished that commander in the conflict of _Aheh_, the
only battle which Mohammed ever lost. Having afterward become a
zealous Mussulman, he subjugated such parts of the Mohammedan dominions
as had revolted after the death of the Prophet, opposed the armies of
Heraclius, conquered Syria, Palestine, and a part of Persia, and came
off victor in numerous single combats in which he was at diff