worshipping the idea for which
its symbols stand. This was the sacred temple of Abraham and Ishmael,
therefore its exterior mattered little.

Mahomet's share in the construction of the Kaaba brought him further
honour among the Kureisch. From this time until the beginning of his
mission he lived a quiet, easeful domestic life, interrupted only by
mental storms and depressions. He found leisure to meditate and observe,
and of this necessarily uneventful time there is little or no mention in
the histories. He certainly gained an opportunity of examining somewhat
closely the tenets of Christianity by the entrance into his household of
Zeid, a Christian slave, cultured and well-informed as to the doctrines
of his religion, and his presence doubtless influenced Mahomet in the
spiritual battles he encountered at a time when as yet he was certain
neither of God nor himself. Besides Zeid another important personage
entered Mahomet's household, Ali, son of Abu Talib, and future convert
and pride of Islam, "the lion of the Faith." The adoption of Ali was
Mahomet's small recompense to Abu Talib for his care of him, and the
advantages there from to Islam were inestimable. Ali was no statesman,
but he was an indomitable fighter, with whose aid Mahomet founded his
religion of the sword.

In such quiet manner Mahomet passed the years immediately preceding the
discovery of his mission, and as religious doubts and fears alternated in
him with fervour and hopefulness, so signs were not wanting of a spirit
of inquiry found abroad in Arabia, discontented with the old religions,
seeking for a clearer enthusiasm and withheld from its goal. Legends
gather round the figures of four inquirers who are reputed to have come
to Mahomet for enlightenment, and the story is but the primitive device
of rendering concrete and material all those vague stirrings of the
communal spirit towards a more convincing conception of the world--
legends that embody ideas in personalities, mainly because their language
has no words for the expression of the abstract, and also that, clothed
in living garments, they may capture the hearts of men. The time for the
coming of a prophet and a teacher could not be long delayed, and a
foreboding of his imperious destiny, dark with war and aflame with God's
judgment, had already begun to steal across Mahomet's hesitant soul.

CHAPTER V

INSPIRATION

"Recite thou in the name of thy Lord who created,
Yan, w