that Abraham could lay its foundation. (4) Gabriel came and showed him the place. These different views can be reconciled by assuming that the place was first shown to Abraham by means of the Shechina, and of the storm, and that afterwards Gabriel came to confirm and ratify the choice of the spot.

'Then Abraham rebuilt the House of the Kaaba according to Gabriel's instruction, and with the assistance of Ishmael. Having reached the height of the Black Stone he said to Ishmael, "Fetch me a fine stone to serve as a token to the servants of God." When he had brought one, Abraham said, "Fetch me a finer one;" and as Ishmael was going to look for one, the mountain Abu Kabis called out, "O Abraham, what thou requirest (viz. the Black Stone) is with me: take it." Then Abraham took the Black Stone and built it firmly in its place.

'When the building was finished, Gabriel came and taught Abraham all the ceremonies of the pilgrimage, by practically going with him through them all. At the close of this instruction, Abraham mounted the place of stones and called out: "O ye servants of God, the pilgrimage to the House of the Kaaba is a religious duty for you." God caused this call to be heard by all, even by those who were still in the reins of their fathers and in the wombs of their mothers, so that all who are predestined to make the pilgrimage, until the day of the resurrection, replied to Abraham's call, "We are ready at thy behest, O God! we are ready."

'It is recorded that the stones with which the Kaaba was built were taken from five, or according to some, from six different mountains; and that the angels helped Ishmael to quarry and carry them. After the days of Abraham the House of the Kaaba was repeatedly rebuilt, namely, first by the Amalekites, then the Jorhamides, then the Koreishites, and lastly by several Moslem potentates. In its present form it is to remain, till the time when it will be demolished by the Abyssinians, as the Prophet has foretold.'¹ End of the quotation from the Rawzet ul Ahbab.

History shows us that Mohammed, by declaring the

national sanctuary of Mecca a Divine Institution and by reenacting the obligatoriness of a pilgrimage to its temple as God's House, only adopted one of the most effectual means within his reach for extending his authority over all Arabia. In like manner we can see by the aid of the same light of history, that there exists no constraining reason for tracing his reformation of the national religion, or his rejection of idols and idol-worship, to a supernatural revelation and a miraculous Divine interposition made specially to himself; but that all this can be perfectly well accounted for by the religious condition of society in his days. In the age of Mohammed, heathen idolatry was no longer universally dominant in Arabia, but had suffered greatly in extent and prestige. Whole tribes and districts were under the sway of Judaism, the stubborn advocate of an absolute Monotheism. Christianity, equally opposed to Polytheism, prevailed in great portions of Najran and other parts, and its tenets were known far and wide. A picture of the Virgin Mary with her infant Son was found in the Kaaba itself, and the Abyssinians had started a military expedition from Yemen, in the year of Mohammed's birth, for the purpose of demolishing the idol-temple of Mecca. The idea of worshipping only one God, instead of many, was therefore nothing new in Arabia, nothing which Mohammed could only learn by a direct revelation from heaven: but something widely known and with which every Arab who cared for it could easily acquaint himself.

But what shows still more conclusively that even in Mecca the prevailing idolatry was no longer unquestioningly followed by all, and that there were thoughtful men wishing for something better, is a fact with which Mohammedan historians themselves acquaint us. Ibn Ishak gives us the following interesting narrative:

'The Koreish had an annual festival on which they assembled round their idols whom they worshipped, to whom they sacrificed and whom they carried about in procession. But four men kept aloof and made a secret covenant of friendship with each other. These four men were: Waraka Ibn Nawfal, Obeid Allah Ibn Jahsh whose mother Omeima was Abd ul Mottaleb's daughter, Othman Ibn el Huweireth, and Zeid Ibn Amr. They said to each other, "Ye know, by