but most probably she died in the month of Ramadan of the ninth year of the prophetic mission. His Excellency went in person to her grave to pray for her, and was exceedingly sad and cast down by her death. On the day of her death Khadija was sixty-five years old.

2. Sevda, a Koreishite, surnamed Om Eswad. She had become a believer in Mecca at the beginning of the prophetic mission, and was first married to Sakran Ibn Omar, by whom she had a son named Abd ur Rahman. Sakran is reckoned amongst the Ansar. She had emigrated with him to Abyssinia, and after sojourning there for a time, they returned to Mecca.

Sevda had seen in a dream that the Prophet came and put his foot upon her neck. When she narrated this dream to Sakran, he said, 'If thou hast really had this dream, I am to die, and Mohammed will marry thee.' After this, Sevda had another dream, in which she saw the moon come down from heaven upon her. On telling this dream also to her husband, he replied, 'If thou hast really dreamed thus, I am to die shortly, and thou wilt marry another husband.' Sakran fell ill that very day, and died a few days later, leaving Sevda a widow. Then in the tenth year of the prophetic mission, after Khadija's death, and before the marriage with Aisha, that Excellency married Sevda, according to sound tradition, settling a dowry upon her of 400 dirhems.

On becoming aware of her great age, he, A.H. 8, divorced her, or, according to a more correct tradition, intended to divorce her. Then, one night, when that Excellency was going to Aisha's house, Sevda stood in his way, and said to him, 'O Apostle of God, do not divorce me, neither return to me, for I have no wish for any one besides thee, and there is no sensual desire remaining in me, only I wish to rise amongst thy wives on the day of the resurrection, and I freely surrender my turn to Aisha, thy loved one.' Upon this, his Excellency desisted from divorcing her, or re-accepted her. It is recorded that Sevda, from time to time, said some words to that prince which made him laugh.

Five traditions are derived from Sevda. Her death took place in the latter part of Omar's Califate, but Wakidi credits a tradition, according to which she left this world in Moawia's reign. She was exceedingly tall and corpulent.

3. Aisha the faithful, the daughter of Abu Bekr, was the Prophet's third wife. She belonged to the jurists and lawyers, and

the learned, and virtuous, and eloquent, of his companions. Some of the ancients affirm that one-fourth of the legal ordinances became known through her; and it is notorious that the Prophet of God said, in reference to her, 'Take ye a third of your Faith from this fair one.' It is recorded that Arwa Ibn Zobeir said, 'I know of no one more learned in the meaning of the Koran, and in the laws concerning what is permitted and forbidden, and in the other ordinances, and in the sciences of poetry and genealogy, than Aisha.' Aisha herself is recorded to have declared that she possessed the following distinctive excellencies above all other wives of the Prophet: —

1. That Excellency married no other virgin except myself.
2. The parents of not any other of his wives emigrated for the cause of God.
3. A verse was sent down from heaven in behalf of my justification and innocence.
4. Before that Excellency married me, Gabriel showed him my image upon a piece of silk, saying, 'Marry this one,' and upon this he married me.
5. I bathed with his Excellency under one cover, a dignity not shared by any other.
6. I was reclining and lying opposite the prayer-place where he performed his prayers.
7. A revelation came to him in my bedroom only, and not in that of any of his other wives.
8. His spirit was taken from him when he was lying between my bosom and my liver.
9. He died on the day when it was my turn to spend the night with him.
10. He was buried in my apartment.

These points show that he had more inclination and love for Aisha the faithful than for any other of his wives. It is also established that when the Apostle of God was asked, 'Who is most loved by thee amongst all the people?' he replied 'Aisha.' And when he was asked again, 'Who is it amongst the males?' he answered, 'Her father, Abu Bekr.'

It is also a correct statement that when the people wished to give the Prophet a present, they watched for an opportunity of presenting it to him on the day when it was Aisha's turn to be with him. Their object in doing so was to gain that Excellency's goodwill. When some of his other wives sent Om Selma to him, requesting him