1856.] Alfred von Kremer^s edition of Wdqidy. 205 



yab and others, but in the first years after the Hijrah as long as 

 eye-witnesses were alive, they would be chiefly consulted and it is 

 not likely that they all would choose the same set phrases in relating 

 what they had seen, 



I do not mean to say that these three authors merely wrote down 

 what they heard from ShoraAbyl, nor that he was the only man who 

 had a hand in completing the stereotyping of the main parts of the 

 biography of Mohammad. As it has already been stated and will 

 be further shown lower down, much has been done before him. 

 And during his life time it must have been the subject of daily conver- 

 sation in the mosque of Madynah. Still I am led to suppose that 

 he took a great part in it and my reasons for this supposition are : 

 1. The testimony of Najjar and Dzohaby, who say that he was better 

 versed in the biography of Mohammad than any of his contem- 

 poraries. 2. The circumstance that three of his pupils left works 

 on the subject. 3, The very silence of Ibn IsMq. Though it is 

 distinctly stated in the Kamal that Ibn IsMq obtained information 

 from him, he nowhere quotes his authority by name ; on the con- 

 trary there are some sentences preserved from him in which he 

 expresses a very unfavorable opinion of his teacher. 



The fact is, many parts of the stereotyped version were evidently 

 not to the taste of Ibn Is^aq, and on perusing his book it gives us 

 the idea that one of his objects in writing it, was to improve and 

 critically to illustrate it. He therefore seldom mentions his authorities 

 for those parts of the story which were generally believed to be true. 

 Thus for iu stance he like Bokhary and others takes the history 

 of the Mi'raj from Khodry, but he does not say through whom it has 

 reached him. As Khodry is mentioned among the teachers of 

 ShoraAbyl, it is not impossible that he was the medium of communi- 

 cation. Ibn IsAaq generally gives the authorities only where he 

 has additions to make to the stereotyped and generally received 

 versions, where he has more clearly ascertained a fact or where he 

 suggests corrections. I will mention an instance. In p. 100 he 

 relates that iZassau heard, when he was seven years of age, a Jew 

 publicly proclaiming that a star had risen the preceding night 

 announcing the birth of A7*mad (the Messiah). To throw light on 

 this story, Ibn IsMq enquired of the grandson of /Zassan how old 



2 e 



