aloud." "What shall I cry?" he
answers, and the voice answered:

"Cry in the name of thy Lord who hath created; He hath created man from a
clot of blood. Cry--and thy Lord is the most bountiful, who hath taught by
the pen; He hath taught man that which he knew not."

It is reported that almost immediately, Mohammed felt his intelligence
illuminated with the light of spiritual understanding, and all that had
previously vexed his spirit with doubt and non-comprehension, was clear
as crystal to his understanding. Nevertheless, this feeling of assurance
did not remain with him at that time, definitely, for we are told that
"Mohammed arose trembling and went to Khadeejeh and told her what he had
seen and heard; and she did her woman's part and believed in him and
soothed his terror and bade him hope for the future. Yet he could not
believe in himself. Was he not perhaps, mad? or possessed by a devil?
Were these voices of a truth from God? And so he went again on the
solitary wanderings, hearing strange sounds, and thinking them at one
time the testimony of heaven and at another the temptings of Satan, or
the ravings of madness. Doubting, wondering, hoping, he had fain put an
end to a life which had become intolerable in its changings from the
hope of heaven to the hell of despair, when he again heard the voice:
'Thou art the messenger of God and I am Gabriel.' Conviction at length
seized hold upon him; he was indeed to bring a message of good tidings
to the Arabs, the message of God through His angel Gabriel. He went back
to his faithful wife exhausted in mind and body, but with his doubts
laid at rest."

With the history of the spread of Mohammed's message we are not concerned
in this volume. The fact that his own nearest of kin, those of his own
household, believed in his divine mission, and held to him with unwavering
faith during the many years of persecution that followed, is proof that
Mohammed was indeed a man who had attained Illumination. If the condition
of woman did not rise to the heights which we have a right to expect of the
cosmic conscious man of the future, we must remember that eastern
traditions have ever given woman an inferior place, and for the matter of
that, St. Paul himself seems to have shared the then general belief in the
inferiority of the female.

It is undeniable that Mohammed's domestic relations were of the most
agreeable character; his kindness and consideration were without parallel;
hi