Page:Bury J B The Cambridge Medieval History Vol 2 1913.djvu/334

306 acquired some knowledge of Christianity during one of his commercial journeys in Syria. This is possible; but it should be remembered that an Arab trader, ignorant both of Aramaic and of Greek, would have great difficulty in obtaining information on religious subjects from Syrian Christians, since those of them who spoke Arabic usually belonged to the most illiterate class. Moreover another and a very important fact has to be taken into consideration. According to Muslim tradition there were about this time, at Mecca and a few other places in western Arabia, certain individuals who had become dissatisfied with the popular paganism, devoted themselves to religious meditation, and professed a monotheistic belief. These persons were called Ḥanīfs, a term of which the origin and precise meaning are obscure. The Ḥanīfs did not form a sect, for they had no organisation and, it would seem, little communication with one another. Our information about them is naturally very meagre, being derived, for the most part, from scraps of poetry which they are said to have composed; but the authenticity of these pieces is often doubtful. One of the most celebrated Ḥanīfs was the Meccan Zaid ibn 'Amr, who appears to have died during Mahomet's boyhood. Another was Waraḳa ibn Maufal, a cousin of Khadīja. This man died, at a very advanced age, some years after Mahomet's marriage. The relation in which he stood to the Prophet renders him an object of peculiar interest: it is therefore all the more to be regretted that so little can be ascertained concerning him. According to one tradition, he ended by adopting Christianity, which is possibly true; he is also said to have translated part of the Christian Scriptures into Arabic, which is highly improbable. But vague as is our knowledge of the Ḥanīfs in general and of Waraḳa in particular, we are justified in believing that before Mahomet's birth a movement in the direction of spiritual monotheism had already begun among the Arabs. How far this movement was originally due to Christian and other foreign influences we can scarcely hope to determine. Our acquaintance with Oriental Christianity in the sixth century is almost entirely confined to the great official Churches; the smaller Christian communities, and especially the half-Christian sects, with whom the Arabs were likely to come in contact, have, with rare exceptions, left no literary records.

With regard to the beginning of Mahomet's prophetic career, and the circumstances under which he received his earliest revelations, we possess many legends but very little genuine tradition. All accounts