nly
spent the heated hours of the day, but sometimes a succession of days
and nights.

Perhaps the confinement increased the violence of his convulsions, and
the vividness and power of the strange phantasmagorias which during his
paroxysms passed through his mind. It was from one of these terrible
attacks that his alleged call to the prophetic office was dated. The
prevailing theories of his time ascribed all such experiences to the
influence of supernatural spirits, either good or evil, and the sufferer
was left to the alternative of assuming either that he had received
messages from heaven, or that he had been a victim of the devil. After
a night of greater suffering and more thrilling visions than he had ever
experienced before, Mohammed chose the more favorable interpretation,
and announced to his sympathizing wife Kadijah that he had received from
Gabriel a solemn call to become the Prophet of God.

There has been endless discussion as to how far he may have been
self-deceived in making this claim, and how far he may have been guilty
of conscious imposture. Speculation is useless, since on the one hand we
cannot judge a man of that age and that race by the rigid standards of
our own times; and on the other, we are forbidden to form a too
favorable judgment by the subsequent developments of Mohammed's
character and life, in regard to which no other interpretation than that
of conscious fraud seems possible.[98]

Aside from the previous development and influence of a monotheistic
reform, and the favoring circumstance of a fortunate marriage, he found
his way prepared by the truths which had been made known in Arabia by
both Jews and Christians. The Jews had fled to the Arabian Peninsula
from the various conquerors who had laid waste Jerusalem and overrun the
territories of the Ten Tribes. At a later day, many Christians had also
found an asylum there from the persecutions of hostile bishops and
emperors. Sir William Muir has shown how largely the teachings of the
Koran are grounded upon those of the Old and New Testaments.[99] All
that is best in Mohammedanism is clearly borrowed from Judaism and
Christianity. Mohammed was illiterate and never claimed originality.
Indeed, he plead his illiteracy as a proof of direct inspiration. A far
better explanation would be found in the knowledge derived from inspired
records, penned long before and under different names.

The prophet was fortunate not only in the possession