God, that your nation has not the true Faith and that they have corrupted the religion of their father Abraham: how shall we compass a stone which neither hears nor sees, neither helps nor hurts? Seek ye another faith for yourselves: for the one you have is useless." Thereupon they separated and travelled in different countries, seeking the true faith of Abraham. Waraka absorbed himself in Christianity and studied the books of the Christians, till he was well acquainted with their doctrine. Obeid Allah continued in his doubts till he embraced Islam. Then he emigrated to Abyssinia, together with his wife Omm Habibeh, Abu Sofyan's daughter, who also was a believer. Whilst they were there, he embraced Christianity and died as a Christian. After Obeid Allah had become a Christian, he said to his companions who had emigrated with him to Abyssinia, "We see clearly: but you are still seeking and do not yet see." He made use of a word which is employed in speaking of the young of a dog opening its eyes for the first time and not yet able to see clearly. Later on Mohammed married Obeid Allah's widow, sending Amr Ibn Omaia to the king of Abyssinia to ask for her; and the king accepted the application in consideration of a dowry of 400 dinars. Othman went to the Emperor of Byzanz, became a Christian, and attained to great honour there. Zeid embraced neither Judaism nor Christianity, yet relinquished the faith of his nation, kept aloof from the idols, abstained from eating dead carcasses or of the meat of an animal sacrificed to idols, and from drinking blood; and he condemned the practice of burying female infants alive. He said, "I worship the Lord of Abraham," and also openly rebuked the faults of his nation. In his old age he sometimes leaned against the Kaaba, saying, "O ye assembly of the Koreish, by Him in Whose power my soul is, there is none of you in the faith of Abraham, except myself." Then he continued, "O God, if I knew in what manner Thou likest best to be worshipped, I would do so but I know it not." When once Mohammed was asked by a woman related to Zeid, whether she might pray for him (Zeid), he answered, "Yes, you may: he will be raised at the resurrection as a distinct religious community." He wrote verses about separating himself from the faith of his nation,

Saying: "Shall I believe in one Lord, or in a thousand Lords? If so, dominion would have to be divided. I have forsaken Lat and Ozza: thus acts the strong, the faithful... I worship my Lord, in order that He, the Gracious, may forgive my sins. O ye people, preserve the fear of God, your Lord: then you will not perish. Thou shalt see how gardens shall be assigned to the pious for their habitations, but to the unbelievers the flaming fire of hell. In life they find reproach, and after death what oppresses their bosoms.'"

This quotation from Ibn Ishak's work proves conclusively that the religious fermentation, produced among Arab society in general by the spread of Monotheism in its Jewish and Christian forms, had actually reached Mecca; and that the idolatry practised in the national temple of the Kaaba was exposed by men of character and standing as contrary to sound reason and inconsistent with true notions of the Divine Being. Nor can it be doubted that this opposition to the prevailing form of religion in Mecca became notorious throughout the city. For Ibn Ishak further tells us that El Khattab, Zeid's uncle, 'reproached him (Zeid) with forsaking the religion of his people, and so persecuted him that he was compelled to leave Mecca and to remain outside the city on Mount Hira. El Khattab even instigated the young folks to prevent his re-entering the town. Therefore when they heard of his having come secretly, they drove him back again and ill-treated him, lest he should harm their religion and lest any one should follow him in turning away from the ancient Faith.' Sprenger, one of Mohammed's latest and ablest biographers, says of this Zeid: 'It is probable that he travelled and discoursed with men acquainted with the Scriptures on religious matters; and he may have been a Deist before Hanifism was being propagated in Mecca: but Ibn Ishak is mistaken in saying that he was murdered on his way home. He did return to his native city, but had to live in banishment on Mount Hira, because of his faith, and after dying as a Hanifite, was buried at the foot of the mountain.'

Besides the four men named by Ibn Ishak, there were others who likewise repudiated the prevailing idolatry, e.g. Abu Amir of Medina and his followers there; and Omaia Ibn