three days; and on Friday he rarely broke the fast. Whenever he fasted on Friday, he also added either Thursday or Saturday as a fast-day; for he forbade fasting on Friday only. Sometimes he would enter the abode of bliss (i.e. his harem), and ask, 'Is there anything to eat?' and if the answer was, 'No;' he would say, 'Then I fast to-day.' Sometimes also he would decide upon a supererogatory fast, without completely carrying it out.

In the third decade of Ramadan he retired to a retreat, showing much zeal in acts of devotion, services, and vigils. He would have little to do with the people, but recite the Koran. He also would retire into a retreat in the first and middle decade. When he knew that 'the Night of Destiny' would happen in the last decade, he would insist on holding the retreat in the last decade. On the day in which he retired to his retreat, he would first perform morning prayers, and then go to the place he had chosen for the retreat. That Excellency's place of retreat was a tent within the mosque. Whilst in the retreat, he would sometimes stretch his blessed head from the mosque into Aisha's apartment, so that she might comb it; and whichsoever of his pure wives that prince desired, she came to be with him during the night in the mosque.

IV. — PECULIARITIES OF THE PROPHET.

Be it known that it is the custom of the Shafii section of the orthodox Ulemas to mention that Excellency's peculiarities at the beginning of the marriage-book, because most of his peculiarities have a connection with marriage. Some of their doctors indeed hold that the things which were peculiar to that prince ought not now to be discussed, because they are things of the past, having no present utility; but by far the greatest majority of the doctors teach that such discussion is lawful, and that it is no error to affirm that it is even desirable and a duty: because one ignorant of the fact that certain things were peculiar to the Prophet, might wish, in finding them amongst the sound traditions, to imitate them as examples. Be it known, therefore, that the Most High has conferred special distinc-

tions upon that Excellency, which are divided into four classes, viz, first, religious duties; second, things forbidden and illicit to him; third, things lawful and permitted to him; fourth, excellencies and miracles. But as the latter are so many, they have been treated in a special chapter by themselves, and in the present, only the first three will be concisely stated.

(1.) Religious Duties peculiar to the Prophet.

The cause of such peculiar duties is the greater measure and higher degree of the Divine presence vouchsafed to this prince; or, according to some Imams, the circumstance that the merit of the performance of a religious duty is seventyfold that of the performance of a work of supererogation. His peculiar duties were:—

1. Prayers in addition to those legally enjoined.
2. Prayer in the early part of the day, after the first legal prayer.
3. The slaying of sacrifices. — It has here to be observed, that the Imams of the Shafii section declare the voluntary and early prayers to be duties peculiar to the Prophet; but that the followers of the Imam Abu Hanifa hold, that voluntary prayers and sacrifices are incumbent on the people also; but the fact is, that the Shafiites here use the term 'duty' in the sense of an absolute duty, and the Hanifites in the sense of less than an absolute duty.
4. Vigils or night-watches. — The Shafiite Imams hold, that at first this was one of his Excellency's peculiar duties, but that afterwards it was abrogated, which view is also supported by a tradition derived from Aisha.
5. The use of a tooth-brush. — This is supported by a tradition from Aisha, but opposed by others.
6. Consultation with relatives, in important matters.
7. To pay the debts of those who at their death leave no property behind them, — There is a difference of opinion amongst the Ulemas as to whether Mohammed paid those debts out of his own private treasure, or from the property of the State; and also as to whether or not the same duty is likewise incumbent upon the sovereigns who succeeded him.