l. They each received an honourable burial, their friends preparing their body, wrapping it in fine linen, and, with an ample use of costly spices, depositing it in a new sepulchre.

aa. 'In that she hath poured this ointment on my body, she did it for my burial' (Matt. xxvi. 12).
'There came also Nicodemus, and brought a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about an hundred pound weight. Then took they the body of Jesus, and wound it in linen clothes with the spices, as the manner of the Jews is to bury. Now in the place where he was crucified there was a garden; and in the garden a new sepulchre, wherein was never man yet laid: there laid they Jesus' (John xix. 39-42).
'The women returned, and prepared spices and ointments; and rested the sabbath-day, according to the commandment. Now, upon the first day of the week, very early in the morning, they came unto the sepulchre, bringing the spices which they had prepared, and certain others with them and they found the stone rolled away from the sepulchre' (Luke xxiii. 55 — xxiv. 2).

bb. 'Abd Allah Ibn Masud narrated: We asked Mohammed in his last illness, who was to wash him after death, and he replied, "Those males of my household who are nearest to me;" and our question, how he was to be shrouded, he answered thus, "If you like, you can shroud me in the linen I now wear, or in Egyptian linen, or in Yemen-vestment, or in white linen." When we asked him who was to say the prayers over him, we began to weep, and he also wept. Then he said, "After having washed and shrouded me, and laid me on one side of my grave in this room, ¹ then go out and leave me for a while alone the person who will say the prayers over me is to be my friend Gabriel, next him Michael, next him Asrafel, and next him Azrael, together with a vast host of angels." When we asked him again, "Who is to lower thy blessed body into the grave?" he replied, "A great congregation

of angels, together with the people of my house, are to lower me: and those angels will see you, but you will not see them."' (R.)

'On Tuesday, after the oath of allegiance to Abu Bekr had been taken, preparations were made for Mohammed's funeral. Ali washed him, leaning him against his own breast; Abbas and his sons helped to turn him over, Osama and Shokran poured water upon him. Mohammed had his under-clothing on, and Ali rubbed him over it, without his hand touching the body, saying, 'How fair art thou, both living and dead!" Nothing was observed in Mohammed that is seen in other dead bodies. Yahya narrated on the authority of his father Abbad, that Aisha said, "When Mohammed was to be washed, they were not agreed as to whether he was to be undressed like other corpses, or to be washed with his clothes on. Then God let them all fall asleep, so that their chins sank down on their breasts; and then some unknown voice from the side of the house said, "Wash the Prophet in his robes." Then they washed him in his under-clothes, pouring the water upon them, and rubbing him, so that the clothes were between him and their hands. After being washed, he was wrapt in three cloths, two of white Sohar and a striped cloak, and laid upon his bed in his dwelling. When there was a dispute as to where he was to be buried, some wishing it to be in the mosque, others, with his companions; Abu Bekr said, I have heard Mohammed say, "Every prophet is to be buried on the spot where he dies." Then they lifted up the carpet on which Mohammed had died, and dug his grave underneath. Mohammed was buried in the middle of the night from Tuesday to Wednesday.' (I. I.)

It is also narrated that, after the washing, a few drops of water remained in the corner of that Excellency's eye and in the hollow of his navel, which Ali the well-beloved drank, and these drops of water, drunk by him, caused his extraordinary knowledge and memory. After that, they shrouded the Lord of the world in three white cotton cloths, none of which was either a shirt or turban-cloth. According to another account, that prince's winding-sheets were two white linen cloths and a striped piece of Yemen-