Page:Islam, Turkey, and Armenia, and How They Happened.djvu/19

Rh who afterwards gave it the title of "the Seal of Prophecy." His nurse and her husband being frightened at this event, which they thought to be an epileptic fit caused by demons could not dare to keep the child any longer, so took him back to his kindred.

When six years old he lost his mother also, and was adopted by his grandfather, who died in two years, when the child was taken and protected by his uncle. It is supposed that the favorable disposition of the Mohametan law in regard to the widows' and orphans' rights was the result of this early bereavement of his parents and of the experience of an orphan's hard life.

3. The Young Mohamet and his Environment. In the house of his uncle, who was a wealthy merchant, and at the same time the chief guardian of the Kabeh—the most sacred temple of the Arab races from times immemorial—Mohamet was in contact with the commercial and religious leaders. The unceasing arrival and departure of the pilgrims from all parts of the land, and of commercial caravans from the southern and northern districts, caused Mecca to be the seat of a perpetual fair, where, besides the commercial enterprises, the popular traditions of Arabs were recited and various religions were discussed and enforced, and the heroism of the ancient chiefs and the beauty of fair women were sung by celebrated poets, and poetic contests were held before the people, and the poems to which the prize was awarded were re-written in golden characters and suspended in the Kabeh. All these were exciting events for the young Mohamet and carried his