LIFE OF MOHAMMED. 263 



his health. The angel of death was noi permitted 

 to separate his soul from his body till he had 

 respectfully solicited permission to enter the cham- 

 ber. The request was granted, and the last office 

 performed with all the deference of a servant to the 

 command of his master. When the moment of his 

 departure approached, his head was reclined on the 

 lap of Ayesha ; he fainted in the agony of pain, but 

 recovering his spirits, and raising his eyes with a 

 steady look towards the roof of the apartment, he 

 uttered with a faltering voice the following broken 



and scarcely articulate expressions : — " God ! 



pardon me have pity Yes, receive me 



among my fellow-citizens on high !" and imme- 

 diately expired on a carpet spread on the floor. 

 The particular year of his death has been disputed ; 

 but the best authors fix it to the 12th of Rebiah I., 

 in the eleventh year of the Hejira, corresponding to 

 the 17th of June A. D. 632. 



The melancholy intelligence spread rapidly through 

 the city. The frantic populace would not be con- 

 vinced that they had been deprived of their apostle. 

 They rushed with credulous dismay to the house of 

 mourning. Disregarding the evidence of his senses, 

 Omar misheathed his scimitar, threatening to strike 

 off the heads of the infidels who should dare to 

 assert that their master was no more. A scene of 

 tumult and confusion ensued, which retarded the 

 interment for some days. The ferment was at length 

 appeased by Al Abbas and Abu Beker, who produced 

 the testimony of reason, and a text of the Koran, 

 that the Prophet had actually tasted of death. 



New disputes arose as to the place of sepulture ; 

 ^Mecca, Medina, and Jerusalem being each suggested 

 by the contending parties. A saying ascribed to 

 Mohammed decided the point : " That a prophet 

 ought to be buried on the spot Avhere he dies." A 

 grave was dug, and the coffin deposited in a vault 

 paved with bricks, beneath the floor of the apartment 



