SECTION XIII.
The same year which had witnessed the defeat of the Christian power in Arabia by the idolaters of Mecca, about two months after that event,[1] and whilst Abrahah still occupied the throne of Yaman,[2] gave birth to one of the greatest enemies the church has ever experienced. The grandfather of Muhammed was the same Abdolmotalleb who had opposed the arms of Abrahah, who was not only the chief of the tribe of Koreish, but appears to have been related to the royal family of Hamyar.[3] The history of Muhammed prior to his assumption of the character of a prophet is exceedingly obscure, perhaps we may venture to say entirely unknown. The earliest Arabian writers who have composed his life lived at least some centuries after the events they relate;[4]
- ↑ Five and fifty nights after بخمس وخمسن ليلة according to Nuweir, p. 92, that is, he adds, بعد عشرين سنة من ملك انوشروان in the twentieth year of the reign of Noushirwan.
- ↑ Hamza, p. 40.
- ↑ When he went to congratulate Seif Dzi Jezen on his restoration to the crown of Hamyar, Seif demanded who he was. "I am," said he, "Abdolmotalleb, the son of Hashem, the son of Abd Menáf." " Then," said the king, "you are the son of our brother," ابن اخينا Mesoud, p. 152.
- ↑ The Sonna, which is the chief source of the Arabian his-
