Page:The Mohammedan system of theology (IA mohammedansyste00neal).pdf/73

 Instead of setting an example of conformity to his own precepts, favourable as they were to indulgence, by allowing his followers four, in the whole, either wives oz concubines, he claims a greater latitude, and by special favour nine females were allotted to himself. But even this did not satisfy the Prophet: the grossness of his amours can only be equalled by the impiety of making them the subject of revelation and divine interference: witness the amour with Mary the Egyptian, and the revelation that ensued : his affair with the wife of his freeman Zeid : witness the vindication of Ayesha, when suspected of nuptial infidelity, and other arrangements specifically appointed by heaven for the wives of the Prophet.

Notwithstanding all the efforts of his followers at vindication, regarding it as typical