Abd al Muttalib figures very prominently in the early legends concerning
Mahomet, because he was sole guardian of the Prophet during very early
childhood. These legends are mainly later accretions, but the kernel of
truth within them is not difficult to discover. Like all forerunners of
the great teachers, he stands in communion with heavenly messengers, the
symbol of his purity of heart. He is humble, compassionate, and devout,
living continually in the presence of his god--a fitting guardian for
the renewer of the faith of his nation. Most significant of the legends
is the story of his vow to sacrifice a son if ten were born to him, and
of the choice of Abdullah, Mahomet's father, and the repeated staying of
the father's hand, so that the sacrifice could not be accomplished until
is son's life was bought with the blood of a hundred camels. This and
all allied legends are fruit of a desire to magnify the divine authority
of Mahomet's mission by dwelling on the intervention of a higher power
in the disposal of his fate.

Of Abd al Muttalib's ten sons, Abdallah was the most handsome in form
and stature, so that the fame of his beauty spread into the harems
of the city, and many women coveted him in their hearts. But he, after
his father had sacrificed the camels in his stead, went straightway to
the house of Amina, a maiden well-born and lovely, and remained there to
complete his nuptials with her. Then, after some weeks, he departed to
Gaza for the exchange of merchandise, but, returning, was overtaken by
sickness and died at Medina.

Amina, left thus desolate, sought the house of Abd al Muttalib, where
she stayed until her child was born. Visions of his future greatness
were vouchsafed to her before his birth by an angel, who told her the
name he was to bear, and his destiny as Prophet of his people. Long
before the child's eyes opened to the light, a brightness surrounded his