lady, whom God had destined to high favours, had heard these things, she sent for Mohammed and said to him, "My cousin, I love thee on account of thy kinship with me, on account of the esteem thou enjoyest among thy people, as well as on account of thy faithfulness, truthfulness, and good manners;" and she wound up by offering herself to him for his wife. Khadija was at that time the most renowned of the Koreish ladies, both as regards her descent and her great wealth, so that every man amongst her people exceedingly desired to obtain her in marriage. Mohammed, who was then twenty-five years old, gladly accepted her flattering offer and went with his uncle Hamza to Khuweiled Ibn Asad, her father, formally to ask for her hand, and giving her twenty young camels as her wedding gift. Khadija was Mohammed's first wife, during whose lifetime he married no other, and she was the mother of all his children, with the only exception of Ibrahim, whom he had by the Coptic woman Mary.'

We are further informed by the biographers that Khadija lost no time in communicating Meisara's report about the anchorite and the overshadowing angels to her cousin, Waraka Ibn Nawfal, known as a learned Christian, reading the Scriptures; and that he said to her, 'If what thou hast told me is true, then Mohammed will become the prophet of this nation; for I know that such a prophet is to be expected and that the time is near.' He also made the following declaration on the subject in verse: 'Mohammed shall become the lord of this nation and shall conquer those who make the pilgrimage; he shall produce a light in the land by which unsteady mankind shall be kept straight; he shall destroy his enemies and bless those who are at peace with him.'

Now though this prophecy be nothing more than a vaticinium post eventum, put into Waraka's mouth for the glorification of Mohammed, it still tends to show that, in the eyes of his admiring Arab countrymen, it did not appear as at all unnatural or unreasonable to anticipate for him, even at that early period, an exalted position, both religious and political. For they saw that by his lucky marriage command of wealth had been added to his prestige as a

distinguished member of the most powerful aristocratic family of Mecca, which, at the same time, held the highest rank in religion, as the special guardians of the national sanctuary.

But this account of Khadija's visit possesses a still further significance of moment by showing that, already at this early period, she felt so drawn to her Hanifite friend Waraka, as to consult with him on delicate matters of affection and family interest. It is therefore exceedingly probable that she herself also sympathised at heart with the views and aspirations of the Hanifite sect. Fifteen years later, when perplexed and distressed on account of her husband's strange visions, we find her again resorting to the same counsellor for guidance and relief. Now by allowing due weight to both these facts, expressly reported by the historians, we may justly infer that likewise during the fifteen years' interval Hanifite sympathies and Hanifite influences were no strangers in the household of Khadija and her husband. In that household it was not the youthful husband but the staid wife who gave the tone and bore the sway. Khadija was evidently an Arab lady of a strong mind and mature experience, who maintained a decided ascendency over her husband, and managed him with great wisdom and firmness. This appears from nothing more strikingly than from the very remarkable fact that she succeeded in keeping him from marrying any other wife, as long as she lived, though at her death, when he had long ceased to be a young man, he indulged without restraint in the multiplication of wives. But as Khadija herself was favourably disposed towards Hanifism, it is highly probable that she exercised her commanding influence over her husband in such a manner as to promote and strengthen his own attachment to the reformatory sect of monotheists.

Under these condition's of religion, rank, wealth, domestic influence and friendly intercourse with awakened patriots who were fretting beneath the shackles of prevailing superstitions and anxiously feeling after religious reform, Mohammed's otherwise uneventful life smoothly passed on, till a serious and protracted return of his early cataleptic fits brought to the surface what had long been working in the