have never witnessed anything to equal its terrible and awful aspect; and most of the inhabitants of hell were women.' When his companions asked, 'O Apostle of God, why are most of the people of hell women?' he answered, 'Because they are ungrateful respecting the kindness and rights of their husbands.

Be it known that his apostolic Excellency also paid visits to the sick, and commanded his friends to do the same. When he went to see a sick person, he used to say, 'Please God, no misfortune, but purification,' or 'Atonement and purification.' He seated himself on the sick person's cushion, and inquired, 'How art thou? what is thy condition? hast thou a fancy for anything?' If the person fancied a thing that was not hurtful, he ordered it to be given. He would lay his right hand on the sick person's body, and say,

'Remove the ban,
Thou Lord of man!
O Healer, heal, relieve!
There is no cure
Besides Thy cure:
Help, Helper, we believe.'

If any one had a wound or an ulcer, he would first press his prayer-finger upon the earth, and then lifting it up, say, 'In the name of God! Dust of our earth and milk mixed with olive-oil shall heal our distempers with the permission of our Lord.' He had no fixed day or hour for visiting the sick, but did so at any time, by day or by night. He used to say, 'If any one pays a sick-visit to a Moslem brother, he is walking in the garden of Paradise as long as he is going to him, and whilst he is sitting by the side of the sick, the grace of God is descending upon him till he is quite immersed in it. If he visits in the morning, 70,000 angels are interceding for him till evening, and if in the evening, 70,000 angels are interceding for him until morning.' When he observed the premonitory symptoms of approaching death in a person, he would bring eternity to his mind, and enjoin repentance and the making of a testament. Of the customs which prevailed during the time of ignorance, he altogether forbade the lamentations for the dead, the tearing of the collar, the beating of the face, and the like, and he enjoined upon the

people to be grateful and patient, and to say, 'We belong to God, and to Him we return,' and willingly to submit to the decrees of the Almighty.

He insisted on promptly washing, dressing, perfuming, and burying the dead, requiring the corpse to be washed three or five times, or oftener, according as those who wash may find it necessary, and with the last washing to use some camphor. Do not wash a chief, ¹ but only divest him of his breastplate and arms; and a pilgrim bury without drawing his pilgrim-dress over his head, so that on the day of the resurrection he may stand up and say, 'Here am I.' He directed that in case the winding-sheet is too short for a corpse, the head was at all events to be covered with it, and some hay put on the feet. He commanded that the dead be buried wrapt in a white sheet. Over the dead, — male or female, infant or adult, present or absent, — he performed a service of four, five, or six Magnificats, in each of which he lifted up his hands. The service over, he quitted the place, with one Selam, or with two. If anything prevented his saying the prayers over the corpse, he said them afterwards over the grave. When the prayers were ended, he walked on foot before the corpse to the grave, and did not sit down till it was deposited in the earth. Whilst they were bringing the body, he used to say, 'Make haste for if the dead is one of the blessed, he is quickly to enter into Paradise; and if he is one of the wicked, he is a burden to be cast off the sooner the better.' His Excellency also said, 'Whoever follows a corpse, let him carry it three times, verily, he will receive his reward.'

In ordaining the legal and other alms, that prince had regard both to the wishes of the poor and to the mental pleasures of the rich. He enacted the legal almsgiving from four kinds of property, most common and most used amongst the people, viz. first, from camels, cattle, and sheep; second, from gold and silver; third, from corn and fruit; and, fourth, from all kinds of merchandise. It is not established that the giving of alms from property, as a legal duty, was incumbent on the Prophet himself; ² but according to the enactments of