166 A CHINESE LIFE OF MOHAMMED 



"to do with the children of the richer people of Mecca. We 

 are told marvellous stories of the experiences of the child and 

 his foster-mother. Prosperity came to Halima 's family and 

 to the whole tribe, and even to the animals, because of the 

 presence of the wonderful child. It may be mentioned in 

 passing that it is stated seriously that all children born in the 

 same year as Mohammed were males, and that the old 

 became young again, and white hair became black; it is 

 added that such wonders had never been known before ! 



There was always a white light protecting Mohammed, 

 .and a strip of white cloud always floated over his head, so 

 whenever he was missed he could be easily traced. As an 

 infant, Mohammed did not cry nor show impatience; he did 

 not take things with his left hand; whenever he ate or drank, 

 he always repeated "Tasmiyah" = "In the name of God the 

 Compassionate." He would sometimes repeat this in his 

 sleep. He would not play with the other children, but he 

 went with them to tend the sheep, and when Halima re- 

 monstrated with him for this, he replied that he wanted to 

 learn how to shepherd, having already the idea of shepherd- 

 ing people. 



At two years of age he was taken back to his mother, who 

 was so pleased with his appearance and manners that she 

 asked Halima to take him a little longer, which was done. 

 One day, when Mohammed was about three years of age, he 

 had an alarming experience which he described by saying 

 that two men clad in white raiment had descended from 

 heaven, bringing with them a golden dish full of snow water, 

 and after putting him on the ground they cut open his body 

 and cleansed his viscera, and extracted therefrom some par- 

 ticles of black blood, after which the men re-ascended to 

 heaven. Halima feared that he had a demon and might 

 ■develop some malady, so- she took him first to a doctor, and 

 afterwards to a diviner who discerned that this was the child 

 who would become the great opposer of idolatry, so he called 

 out that the child should be put to death, and so much 

 trouble be spared to Arabia. Halima seized Mohammed and 

 •carried him off out of harm's way as soon as possible. 



Halima and her husband being in fear, decided to return 

 the child to his mother; so Halima set out with this inten- 

 tion, but on nearing Mecca, at one of the resting places 

 Mohammed suddenly disappeared, to the great distress of his 

 nurse whose grief moved the people ; someone suggested 

 that she had better go and ask the High Priest of a temple 

 near by, to help her. Our author refers to this individual as 

 "Huo Fu," f£ $ Living Buddha, which is a misnomer for 

 the priests of the religion found at Mecca prior to the adop- 



