Note 121
Prideaux (Life of Mahomet, p. 44) reviles the
wickedness of the impostor, who despoiled two poor orphans,
the sons of a carpenter; a reproach which he drew from the
Disputatio contra Saracenos, composed in Arabic before the
year 1130; but the honest Gagnier (ad Abulfed. p. 53) has
shown that they were deceived by the word Al Nagjar, which
signifies, in this place, not an obscure trade, but a noble
tribe of Arabs. The desolate state of the ground is
described by Abulfeda; and his worthy interpreter has
proved, from Al Bochari, the offer of a price; from Al
Jannabi, the fair purchase; and from Ahmeq Ben Joseph, the
payment of the money by the generous Abubeker On these
grounds the prophet must be honorably acquitted.
The History Of The Decline And
Fall Of The Roman Empire
—Fall In The East
—Chapter 50