The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire - Edward Gibbon [1669]
Note: The most orthodox Mahometans only reckon back the ancestry of the prophet for twenty generations, to Adnan. Weil, Mohammed der Prophet, p. 1. - M. 1845.]
[Footnote 65: The seed of this history, or fable, is contained in the cvth chapter of the Koran; and Gagnier (in Praefat. ad Vit. Moham. p. 18, &c.) has translated the historical narrative of Abulfeda, which may be illustrated from D'Herbelot (Bibliot. Orientale, p. 12) and Pocock, (Specimen, p. 64.) Prideaux (Life of Mahomet, p. 48) calls it a lie of the coinage of Mahomet; but Sale, (Koran, p. 501 - 503,) who is half a Mussulman, attacks the inconsistent faith of the Doctor for believing the miracles of the Delphic Apollo. Maracci (Alcoran, tom. i. part ii. p. 14, tom. ii. p. 823) ascribes the miracle to the devil, and extorts from the Mahometans the confession, that God would not have defended against the Christians the idols of the Caaba.
Note: Dr. Weil says that the small-pox broke out in the army of Abrahah, but he does not give his authority, p. 10. - M. 1845.]
[Footnote !: Amina, or Emina, was of Jewish birth. V. Hammer, Geschichte der Assass. p. 10. - M.]
[Footnote 66: The safest aeras of Abulfeda, (in Vit. c. i. p. 2,) of Alexander, or the Greeks, 882, of Bocht Naser, or Nabonassar, 1316, equally lead us to the year 569. The old Arabian calendar is too dark and uncertain to support the Benedictines, (Art. de Verifer les Dates, p. 15,) who, from the day of the month and week, deduce a new mode of calculation, and remove the birth of Mahomet to the year of Christ 570, the 10th of November. Yet this date would agree with the year 882 of the Greeks, which is assigned by Elmacin (Hist. Saracen. p. 5) and Abulpharagius, (Dynast. p. 101, and Errata, Pocock's version.) While we refine our chronology, it is possible that the illiterate prophet was ignorant of his own age.
Note: The date of the birth of Mahomet is not yet fixed with precision. It is only known from Oriental authors that he was born on a Monday, the 10th Reby 1st, the third month of the Mahometan year; the year 40 or 42 of Chosroes Nushirvan, king of Persia; the year 881 of the Seleucidan aera; the year 1316 of the aera of Nabonassar. This leaves the point undecided between the years 569, 570, 571, of J. C. See the Memoir of M. Silv. de Sacy, on divers events in the history of the Arabs before Mahomet, Mem. Acad. des Loscript. vol. xlvii. p. 527, 531. St. Martin, vol. xi. p. 59. - M.
Dr. Weil decides on A.D. 571. Mahomet died in 632, aged 63; but the Arabs reckoned his life by lunar years, which reduces his life nearly to 61 (p. 21.) - M. 1845]
[Footnote 67: I copy the honorable testimony of Abu Taleb to his family and nephew. Laus Dei, qui nos a stirpe Abrahami et semine Ismaelis constituit, et nobis regionem sacram dedit, et nos judices hominibus statuit. Porro Mohammed filius Abdollahi nepotis mei (nepos meus) quo cum ex aequo librabitur e Koraishidis quispiam cui non praeponderaturus est, bonitate et excellentia, et intellectu et gloria, et acumine etsi opum inops fuerit, (et certe opes umbra transiens sunt et depositum quod reddi debet,) desiderio Chadijae filiae Chowailedi tenetur, et illa vicissim ipsius, quicquid autem dotis vice petieritis, ego in me suscipiam, (Pocock, Specimen, e septima parte libri Ebn Hamduni.)]
[Footnote 68: The private life of Mahomet, from his birth to his mission, is preserved by Abulfeda, (in Vit. c. 3 - 7,) and the Arabian writers of genuine or apocryphal note, who are alleged by Hottinger, (Hist. Orient. p. 204 - 211) Maracci, (tom. i. p. 10 - 14,) and Gagnier, (Vie de Mahomet, tom. i. p. 97 - 134.)]
According to the tradition of his companions, Mahomet ^69 was distinguished by the beauty of his person, an outward gift which is seldom despised, except by those to whom it has been refused.