im.

In common with many enthusiasts and men of action, certain sides of his
nature, especially the sexual and the practical, awoke late, and were
preceded by a reflective period wherein the poet held full sway. He never
desired the companionship of those of his own age and their rather
debased pleasures. There are legends of his being miraculously preserved
from the corruption of the youthful vices of Mecca, but the more probable
reason for his shunning them is that they made no appeal to his desires.
Some minds and tastes unfold by imperceptible degrees--flowers that
attain fruition by the shedding of their earlier petals. Mahomet was of
this nature. At this time the poet was paramount in his mental activities
He loved silence and solitude, so that he might use those imaginative and
contemplative gifts of which he felt himself to possess so large a share.

It is not possible at this distance of time to attempt to estimate the
importance of this period in Mahomet's mental development. There are not
sufficient data to enable history to fill in any detailed sketch, but the
outlines may be safely indicated by the help of his later life and the
testimony of that commentary upon his feelings and actions, the Kuran.
His nature now seems to be in a pause of expectation, whose vain urgency
lasted until he became convinced of his prophetic mission. He must have
been at this time the seeker, whose youth, if not his very eagerness,
prevented his attaining what he sought. He was earnest and sincere, grave
beyond his years, and so gained from his fellows the respect always meted
out, in an essentially religion-loving community, to any who give promise
of future "inspiration," before its actuality has rendered him too
uncomfortable a citizen. He received from his comrades the title of
Al-Amin (the Faithful), and continued his life apart from his kind,
performing his duties well, but still remaining aloof from others as
one not of their world. From his sojourn in the mountains came the
inspiration that created the poetry of the Kuran and the reflective
interest in what he knew of his world and its religion; both embryos, but
especially the latter, germinated in his mind until they emerged into
full consciousness and became his fire of religious conviction, and his
zeal for the foundation and glory of Islam.

CHAPTER IV

ADVENTURE AND SECURITY

"Women are the twin-halves of men."--MAHOMET.

Abu Talib's straitened circums