Page:The Mohammedan system of theology (IA mohammedansyste00neal).pdf/43

 course between states and the various necessities of life were supported and relieved by caravans or companies of trading merchants, to which allusion is made in the writings of Moses. A world of controversy has been elicited concerning his early education: his followers, to enhance the reputation of their Prophet, maintain that he could neither read nor write, while the opponents of Islamism as strongly insist that such ignorance was more affected than real. Among the moderns, Gibbon strongly contends for the illiterateness of the Prophet, and White advocates the contrary side of the question.

At this distance of time at is impossible to ascertain satisfactorily the nature of his attainments, most likely they were similar to what those enjoyed in the same sphere with himself, his equals in society, though probably destitute of those advantages attainable