sometimes one with red or with green stripes. On the festival of breaking the fast, he, before going to the outside place of prayer, broke the fast by eating some dates, but always an uneven number; and besides these dates he ate nothing till his return from the house of prayer. On the feast of sacrifices he patiently abstained from breaking the fast till he returned from the place of prayer, after having slain the sacrifices. On the occasion of the feast he took a whole ablution, and went out to the place of prayer on foot, having a short spear carried before him. On the way he loudly recited praises; and when they arrived at the prayer-place, that short spear was stuck in the ground as a mark for his Excellency whither to turn in prayer; for in those days the prayer-place was in the open field, and not yet surrounded by walls. After the service was over, he stood before the people, and gave them an address, which he began with praise to God, and then exhorted and commanded the people to give alms; and also gave notice of any war-expedition which he might have in contemplation. The women of Medina also used to be present in the place of prayer; and his Excellency went to them, exhorting them with great vehemence, and saying, 'Give alms! ¹ I It is also established that after the prayer of the festival he sacrificed two rams, which were to have horns, black fore-legs and hind-legs, and black rings round the eyes; and before he slaughtered them he turned their faces towards the Kibla and recited a prayer. He also commanded the people, saying, 'Take the fattest and best of the sheep for sacrifices, those free from defects, whose ears are not cut off or pierced through, those not very lean or sick.' He likewise ordained that from amongst the sheep one, a year old, and from amongst others one, two years old, should be proper for sacrifice; and that it should be lawful for seven persons together to sacrifice one bullock. In returning to Medina from the place of prayer, he always went by a different way from that by which he came. The Ulemas state that the reason of this was, that many places' might witness his good works, and that the hypocrites might be cowed by seeing the splendour of the true Mussulmans; and that the people on both roads might salute him; and that the earth of both roads might be benefited by his blessed footsteps.

That Excellency also offered up prayer for rain. Sometimes he first ascended the pulpit and delivered an address, and sometimes, without doing so, he recited the prayer for rain in the place where he was sitting. It is also established that during that prayer he held up the back-side of his hands towards heaven. When a storm was blowing, and clouds were seen, the visage of that Excellency showed signs of distress; and he would go inside and not come out again as long as this lasted; but as soon as rain began to come down, that state passed off, and he cheered up. Aisha the faithful narrates that on her asking the Prophet for an explanation of this, he replied, 'O Aisha, lest what happened to the people of Ad should happen again; for when they saw clouds of punishment in the sky, they said, "These clouds come to bring us rain," whereas that was a storm and clouds bringing them a grievous punishment.' His Excellency also said, 'The wind is from the Spirit of God (in Arabic, the riah is from the ruah): it brings gracious rain to His friends, and sore punishment to His enemies.' When once some one was cursing the storm in that prince's presence, he said, 'Do not curse the storm, for it is a commissioned officer, and, verily, whoever curses what is undeserving of curse, on him will that curse return.' Ibn Abbas narrates, that there never was a storm or thundering without that prince kneeling down to pray.

During an eclipse that prince used to say two genuflexions of the eclipse-service. Ibn Abbas relates that he was present once when the Prophet recited that prayer, and that on that occasion he prolonged the standing up to an unusual extent, about as long as it would take to read the second Sura, and that as soon as the prayer was over, the sun reappeared. The Prophet also said, 'Truly, sun and moon are signs of God; but although their eclipse does not portend any one's life or death, yet, if you see any, remember God.' His friends said to him, 'O Apostle of God, we saw that whilst thou wast saying the prayer, thou didst grasp at something, and then let it go again.' His Excellency replied, 'Verily, I have seen Paradise, and I wanted to seize one of the branches of its vines; if I had taken it, you could have been eating therefrom till eternity sets in. I have also seen hell; but I