times in one day; for I knew people before thee, and have tried the children of Israel; and thy people is weaker than others; return, therefore, to the Lord's Throne and solicit an alleviation for thy people. I went back and had ten taken off. On telling Moses of it, he advised me to seek a further reduction. So I went back, again and again, and had each time ten more taken off, till the fifth time, when only five were taken off, so that five remained. Moses thought them still too many, and wished to induce me to return once more. But I answered, I have already returned to my Lord so often that I am quite ashamed; I will return no more, but be content and satisfied and walk in the way of resignation." According to another account, Mohammed said, "I returned for reductions of the number of prayers, till my Lord said to me, O Mohammed, I have made five daily prayers obligatory on thee and thy people, and I accept each prayer in the stead of ten prayers, so that the five prayers shall count for fifty prayers; and if one of thy people purposes to do a good action, but is prevented by a legal hindrance from performing it, it yet shall count in the register of his good actions; and if he carries that purpose into execution, there shall be registered into the register ten good works, or 700, or still more, beyond counting; and for every one of thy people who had intended to commit a sin, but for God's sake leaves it undone, one good action shall be noted down; but if he commits the sin, only one evil deed shall be marked."

'That Excellency concluded his narrative by saying, "When I returned, Gabriel accompanied me till I entered the house of Om Hani; and all this travelling and journeying took place in what is to you one night." It is also reported that Omar said, "The time in which that prince went and returned was three hours of a night;" but others say that it took four hours." God knows best.' ¹ (Rawzat.)

(27.) Persecuted and threatened with death by their fellow-citizens in the town in which they had grown up, they escaped from their hands, as by a miracle, and, together with their disciples, transferred their domicile to another town, willing to receive them.

a. 'And Jesus came to Nazareth, where he 'had been brought up: and, as his custom was, he went into the synagogue on the sabbath-day, and stood up for to read. ...And he began to say unto them, This day is this scripture fulfilled in your ears. ...And they said, Is not this Joseph's son? And he said unto them, Ye will surely say unto me this proverb, Physician, heal thyself, etc. ...And all they in the synagogue, when they heard these things, were filled with wrath, and rose up, and thrust him out of the city, and led him unto the brow of the hill whereon their city was built, that they might cast him down headlong. But he, passing through the midst of them, went his way, and came down to Capernaum, a city of Galilee, and taught them on the sabbath-days" (Luke iv. 16-31).

b. Mohammed's celebrated Flight from Mecca to Medina is itself an undoubted historical fact; what is fictitious in it is the supernatural halo with which it has been invested, as will appear from the following narrative taken from the Rawzat 1 : 'When the covenant and allegiance between the people of Medina and his Excellency were firmly established, and the friends of that prince were no longer able to remain in Mecca, on account of the persecution by the Polytheists, then he gave them permission to flee to Medina, saying, "I have been shown the place to which you will flee; it is a place of date-palms, between two mountains." It is recorded by the trustworthy Bokhari that when Abu Bekr, the true, was engaged with preparations for the journey, his Excellency said to him, "O Abu Bekr, have patience for a few days longer, for I have hopes that I myself also shall shortly receive the command to flee, so that I may become thy com-