A CHINESE LIFE OF MOHAMMED 167 



tion of Islam. This was some form of idolatry, but not Budd- 

 hism or Lamaism . Liu Chih knew the title ' ' Huo Fu ' ' as used 

 in Thibet, so he adopted the ready-made term, regardless of its 

 being misleading to the Chinese reader. When this priest was 

 approached he was very much excited, saying that the child 

 they spoke of would ultimately destroy the priests' religion. 

 He sent a message, however, that the child was safe and 

 would be found. When Mohammed's grandfather was told 

 that his grandson was lost he set people to join him in the 

 search, promising great reward when the child was found; 

 Mohammed was found under a grape vine, and Abd ul 

 Muttalib gave 1000 camels and 1000 ounces of pure gold to 

 be distributed among the poor as a thank-offering, and also 

 richly rewarded Halima and sent her back in peace to her 

 home. 



For some time previous to this there had been famine 

 and distress around Mecca; when Mohammed returned, the 

 five kinds of grain were plentiful and all the animals were 

 prolific; the people did not know the cause of this. There 

 were some who feared Mohammed, and plotted to destroy 

 him, but the grandfather hid him from them. When 

 Mohammed was six years of age, his mother Amina took him 

 on a visit of several months to relatives at Medina. On the 

 way back she was taken ill and died at Abwa. The faithful 

 nurse Umm Ayman brought the child back safely to Mecca, 

 where he was now more that ever under the care of his grand- 

 father who was very fond of him. 



On the day when Mohammed was seven years old, he 

 and his grandfather, having been entreated by the people 

 because of drought, led the people in prayer for rain, and the 

 rain came when the prayers were ended. In this year, king 

 Saifu ascended the throne of Abyssinia, and the neighbouring 

 princes and rulers went to offer congratulations; Abd ul 

 Muttalib also went, and the king claimed relationship with 

 him and entertained him lavishly; the king privately asked 

 about his family affairs and about Mohammed, inquiring if 

 anything unusual had been observed in connection with his 

 birth ; on hearing of the wonders, he perceived that Moham- 

 med was really the one who was to be the final prophet who 

 would cast out idols and images and destroy the fire-worship- 

 pers. The lavishness of the presents reported to have been 

 given by this king to Abd ul Muttalib and those who were 

 with him is worth mentioning; to each man of the company 

 was given twenty youths and twenty maidens, 40 ounces of 

 pure gold, 80 ounces of silver, a box of incense, and 100 

 camels; Abd ul Muttalib received ten times as much as all 

 the others. 



