LAST OF THE PROPHETS 29
people of Mecca by his violent protests against their worship of the idols in the Kaaba. Mohammed used to visit Zaid the Hanif in his lonely cave, and finally he was convinced that he too should abandon idolatrous practices. On one occasion, while deeply engrossed in meditation on the side of this lonely mountain in the cave of old Zaid, he had a singular experience. He seemed to be aware of a heavenly presence. The angel Gabriel appeared to him and commanded him as follows:
Recite, thou, in the name of thy Lord who created; Created man from clots of blood.
This was the beginning of the Koran, the sacred book of the Moslems, although he did not know it then.
This experience was very vivid, but also very confusing. It was followed by a series of others of similar nature, and Mohammed was greatly disturbed by them. Could it be that they were revelations from God himself? Was God calling Mohammed to be a prophet? But he was not sure that they were real revelations from God at all. They seemed so much like the usual Arab poetry, in the form of rhyming prose, that there were some besides himself who were inclined to the view that he was no prophet, but just an ordinary Arab poet. Now the Arabs held all poetry was due to the inspiration of a jinni a sort of evil spirit and was very far removed from divine revelation indeed. However, the peculiar nature of the revelations, which seemed to come direct from God himself,
