LIFE OF MOHAMMED. 201 



tian adversaries, who sought to debase him into a 

 man of low plebeian origin, has long been exploded ; 

 for whatever uncertainty may rest on the first gra- 

 dations of his pedigree, he could, without doubt, 

 number among his ancestors in a direct line many 

 generations of pure and genuine nobility. 



The Arabs glory in the number of their children ; 

 it is the highest honour and ambition of their 

 wives.* In this respect Providence had richly 

 crowned the domestic happiness of Abdolmotalleb ; 

 he was the father of six daughters and thirteen sons. 

 Abdallah was a younger son, — the best beloved of 

 his father, — the most beautiful and amiable of the 

 Arabian youth. His personal charms are said to 

 have exposed him to many temptations, similar to 

 what the virtuous Hebrew captive encountered in 

 the service of Potiphar. The maidens of the Ko- 

 reish pined in secret admiration, and eagerly courted 

 his alliance. About his twenty-fifth year he was 

 united to Amina, daughter of Waheb, chief of the 

 Zahrites, a family of princely rank, being also de- 

 scended from the Koreish. She was famed for her 

 wisdom and beauty, and had been sought in mar- 

 riage by the wealthiest of her kinsmen. The con- 

 summation of their nuptials was fatal to many lan- 

 guishing hopes ; for the tradition of Ibn Abbas 

 assures us, that on the same night 200 virgins ex- 

 pired of jealousy and despair. There was not a 

 soothsayer, we are told, or prophetess, in all Arabia, 

 but had intimation of the auspicious event ; and not 



571 ; Reiske, 572. The Benedictine monks (Art. de Verif. des 

 Dates) fix it on the lOtb of November, 570. Pvideaux and Hot- 

 tinger, on the authority of Arabian wrilers, remove it to May, 

 571. Gagnier makes it 569 of the vulgar era, or 578 from the 

 birth of Christ. 



* " It was the custom, that when a woman brought forth ten 

 male children, she should be called Munejeba (or the ennobled), 

 and her name be published among the Arabs ; and they used to 

 say that the wife of .such a one is ennobled." — Romance of 

 Antar, p. 21. 



