96 STATESMEN AND SAGES lineage among his countrymen ; the tribe of Koreish, to which he belonged, lay- ing claim to Ishmael as their progenitor, and this claim, arising from the vanity of the tribe, was eagerly laid hold of and supported by his votaries. Abdallah, the father of Mahom- et, was the youngest son of Abd al Motalleb, the son of Hashem. " Hashem," say the authors of the "Modern Universal History," "suc- ceeded his father Abd al Menaf in the principality of the Koreish, and consequently in the government of Mecca, and the custody of the Caaba." So far the genealogy of the prophet is supported by authen- tic history that he was descended from the princes of his people can- not be denied. This descent from Ishmael, Gibbon, after Sale, thus disproves : " Abulfeda and Gagnier describe the popular and approved genealogy of the prophet. At Mecca I would not dispute its authenticity ; at Lausanne, I will venture to observe, ist, That, from Ishmael to Mahomet, a period of two thousand five hundred years, they reckon thirty instead of seventy-five generations. 2d. That the modern Bedoweens are igno- rant of their history, and careless of their pedigree." Abdallah, though of high lineage, was possessed of little wealth ; and as he died while his son was yet an infant, we may easily suppose that little to have been diminished by the rapacity of his kindred. At the early age of six years Mahomet lost his mother, Amina ; and two years after, his grandfather, Abd al Motalleb, who when dying, earnestly confided the helpless orphan to the care of Abu Taleb, the eldest of his sons, and the successor to his authority. From him, though treated with kindness, Mahomet received a scanty education ; but whether that education was equal or inferior to that of his countrymen, it is not easy to discover. Tradition states that at the time of Mahomet's first declara- tion concerning his mission, only one man in Mecca could write. If so, it is nothing wonderful that Mahomet, like, the rest of his kindred, should also be unable to write. At thirteen years pf age, he is said to have made a journey to Syria, in the caravan of his uncle, and, some years after, to have performed the same journey in the capacity of factor to his mistress, Cadijah. The next remarkable event in the life of Mahomet, is his appearance in the character of a soldier. At the early age of fourteen, he served under his uncle, who commanded the troops of his tribe, the Koreish, in their wars against the rival tribes of Kenan and Hawazan. The circumstance is worthy of remark, as illustrative of the perfect compatibility between the business of a merchant and that of a soldier, among the Arabian people, and upon the constant and rapid transition from one to the other.
