may be placed, promise should be taken that he also was to preserve and honour that Light, and not to transfer and communicate it to any woman except to one duly married, and who is the fittest and best of her time. Then Adam had many children, until that Light was communicated to Eve and she bore Seth. Whenever Eve gave birth, she brought forth twins, a boy and a girl, till the turn came for Seth to be born, whom she brought forth alone, without a twin-sister, because of the honourable distinction of the Light of Mohammed. Though this is the more generally received account, there is also another, according to which Seth likewise was born with a twin-sister; but, according to both accounts, the Light of Mohammed was only transferred upon Seth. Afterwards that pure Light was conveyed, by proper covenants, pacts, and marriage, from the best of men to the purest of women, till it reached Abd Allah Ibn Mottaleb (Mohammed's father), and from him was conveyed to Amina Bent Wahb Ibn Abd Menaf (his mother), according to the generally received tradition, "I was conveyed from the best of fathers to the purest of mothers." But God knows best what is true.'

In the Kitabi Ahwal el Kiamat we read the following singular account: 'It is recorded by tradition that God first created a Tree, with 4000 branches, and called it the Tree of Life. Then He created the Light of Mohammed, in a veil of white pearl, of the shape of a Peacock, and placed it upon that Tree, where it praised Him for 70,000 years. Then God created the Mirror of Shame and placed it before it; and when the Peacock looked into it, it beheld its own form most beautiful, and its figure most elegant, wherefore it blushed before God with a true shame, and prostrated itself five times in worship. This is the reason why God has imposed prostrations and five daily prayers upon Mohammed and his people. When God looked upon that Light it perspired, from a sense of shame, because of Him. Then God created from the perspiration of its head the angels; from the perspiration of its face the upper and the lower Throne, the Tablet, the Pen, Paradise, Hell, the Sun, the Moon, the Stars, the Veil, and all that is in heaven; and of the perspiration of its breast He created the Prophets, the Apostles,

the Ulemas, the Martyrs, and the Righteous; from the perspiration of its back He created the Flourishing House and the Kaaba, the temple of Jerusalem, and the places of the houses of worship in the world; of the perspiration of its eyebrows He created the people of believing men and women, the Mussulmans of both sexes; of the perspiration of its ears He created the spirits of the Jews, the Christians, the Magi, and what is like them; of the perspiration of its legs He created the Earth, from the west to the east, and what is in it. After this, when the Light of Mohammed had praised God for 70,000 years, God created the Light of the prophets, out of the Light of Mohammed, and looked upon that Light and created their spirits; and they said, "There is no God but Allah, and Mohammed is the apostle of Allah." Then God created a Lamp of transparent red carnelian, and the figure of Mohammed, just as he afterwards was in this world, and put it on that Lamp, exactly in the form he had when he was saying his prayers.¹ Then the spirits went round the Light of Mohammed, praising and worshipping, for the space of 100,000 years. Then God commanded the spirits to look upon the form of Mohammed, and they all obeyed: and whoso saw his head became a Calif and a Sultan amongst men; whoso saw his forehead became a just commander; whoso saw his eyes became one who knows the Word of God by heart; whoso saw his eye brows became a painter; whoso saw his ears became a listener and forward-comer; whoso saw his cheeks became virtuous and intelligent; whoso saw his nose became a doctor, physician, and apothecary; whoso saw his lips became a minister of state; whoso saw his mouth became one who keeps the fast; whoso saw his teeth became one of a beautiful countenance; whoso saw his tongue became an ambassador amongst men; whoso saw his throat became a preacher, a crier who calls to prayer, and a councillor;