and tell him that I am not come to make war against him, but only to destroy the temple. If they will not oppose this, I thirst not for their blood; and if he will not make war against me, bring him here to me." When Hunata, on making the necessary inquiry in Mecca, was taken to Abdu-l-Mottaleb and delivered Abraha's message to him, he replied "By Allah, we will not war against him; for we are too weak for it. As regards the temple of Allah; if He will protect it against Abraha, it is His own temple and sanctuary; but if He will deliver it up, then we ourselves cannot protect it." After this, Abdu-l-Mottaleb accepted the invitation to the Abyssinian camp, where he made the acquaintance of the commander's elephant-keeper who thus introduced him to his master: "The Lord of the Koreish is before the door, soliciting admittance. He is the lord of the well of Mecca, feeding the men in the plain and the wild beasts on the mountain-tops: allow him to enter and to submit to thee his request." Permission being given, he entered and said, "I wish that the king would restore to me the 200 camels which have been taken away." Upon this Abraha, speaking through an interpreter, said: "When I saw thee first, I was pleased with thee; but thy words have lowered thee in my estimation. Thou makest mention of the 200 lost camels, but sayest nothing about the temple which I am come to destroy and which is the sanctuary of thyself and thy fathers." To this Abdu-l-Mottaleb replied: "I am the master of the camels: the temple also has its master, who will take care of it." Abraha said, "He probably will not stop me;" to which Abdu-l-Mottaleb again replied, "That is a matter between Him and thee." Abraha then ordered the camels to be restored to Abdu-l-Mottaleb who, on his return, informed the Koreish of all that had happened, and commanded them to leave Mecca and to retire to the mountain recesses, from fear of the Abyssinian soldiery. Then Abdu-l-Mottaleb took hold of the ring of the temple-door, and, together with other Koreishites, implored God's help against Abraha and his army, adding, "O God, Thy servant looks after his camels: do Thou protect what belongs to Thee, and suffer not their cross and their cunning to prevail against Thy power."'

Next morning, when Abraha wished to proceed to Mecca, his elephant, with whose keeper (be it observed) Abdu-l-Mottaleb had made friendship, would not rise from the ground; and a virulent epidemic of small-pox broke out in the camp, necessitating the hasty retreat of the Abyssinians. But besides the fact that Abdu-l-Mottaleb had 200 camels to lose on a single occasion, there may be mentioned another indirect proof of his opulence. The Fihrist contains the following notice: 'In the museum of Mamun there was a document in the handwriting of Abdu-l-Mottaleb Ibn Hashim, written on leather. It was to the effect that Abdu-l-Mottaleb of Mecca had a claim on a certain Himyarite of Wark Sana, amounting to 1000 dirhems of silver, not counted, but weighed with an iron weight; and that, on demand, he received payment of that debt.'

Abdu-l-Mottaleb not only occupied a most influential social and political position in Mecca, but he was also a rigid devotee of idol-worship, as is proved by his readiness to sacrifice one of his own sons at the Kaaba. The following narrative is taken from Ibn Ishak: 'It is believed that when, at the time of the digging of the Zemzem well, the other Koreishites showed hostility to Abdu-l-Mottaleb, he made the vow that if he should ever have ten sons of an age to give him assistance, he would sacrifice one of them at the Kaaba. As soon as his ten sons had grown up to the requisite age, he informed them of his vow, and requested them to submit to its fulfilment. On expressing their readiness, and inquiring how it was to be done, he said to them, "Let every one of you write his name on an arrow and give it me." This done, he went to the idol Hobal who was placed within the Kaaba and before whom the sacrifices of the temple were offered. Hobal had seven arrows, each with a different inscription. If the arrow with the inscription "atonement" was drawn, the person for whom it was drawn had to pay the price of blood; if with "yes" or "no," a question was answered in the affirmative or negative; if with "water," the digging of a well was agreed to; if with "from you," or "not from you," a person was declared to belong, or not to belong, to a certain tribe; and if with "remaining," the case remained undecided. If they wished for