is, that he appealed to a she-camel as a proof of his divine mission, commanding the people to let her go at large and do her no hurt. Some of the Themoudites believed; but they were ridiculed by the skeptical chiefs of the nation, whose wickedness went so far as actually to hamstring the apostolic camel. Here-*upon an earthquake overtook them by night, and they were all found dead in the morning (K., p, 376.—Sura, 7. 71-77). Such things were Mahomet's stock-in-trade; and the following Sura exemplifies the mixture of his early poetic thoughts with the prosaic narratives which did duty so constantly during the maturity of his apostleship:—
"By the Sun and his noonday brightness! by the Moon when she
followeth him! by the Day when it revealeth his glory! by the Night
when it enshroudeth him! by the Heaven and him who built it! by the
Earth and him who spread it forth! by a Soul and him who balanced it,
and breathed into it its wickedness and its piety! blessed now is he who
hath kept it pure, and undone is he who hath corrupted it!
"Themoud in his impiety rejected the message of the Lord, when the greatest wretch among them rushed up:—Said the apostle of God to them,—The camel of God! let her drink. But they treated him as an imposter and hamstrung her. So their Lord destroyed them for their crime, and visited all alike: nor feared he the issue" (K., p. 24.—Sura, 91).
The same Sura which contains the history of Saleh, prophet
of Themoud, refers also to various other divine messengers who
had fulfilled the same office of announcing the judgments of
God. Mahomet's general view of the prophetic function seems
to be expressed in these words:—
"Every nation hath its set time. And when their time is come they
shall not retard it an hour; and they shall not advance it. O children
of Adam! there shall come to you Apostles from among yourselves,
rehearsing my signs to you; and whoso shall fear God and do good
works, no fear shall be upon them, neither shall they be put to grief.
But they who charge our signs with falsehood, and turn away from them
in their pride, shall be inmates of the fire; for ever shall they abide
therein" (K., p. 371.—Sura, 7. 32-34).
The prophets whom he mentions in this Sura are Noah, who
was sent to warn his people of the Deluge; Houd, sent to Ad,
