During the period of Mahomet’s life immediately preceding his departure to Medina, we have his personal appearance described in detail by Ali.  He is a man of medium stature, with a magnificent head and a thick, flowing beard.  His eyes were black and ardent, his jaw firm but not prominent.  He looked an upstanding man of open countenance, benignant and powerful, bearing between his shoulders the sign of his divine mission.  He had great patience, says Ali, and “in nowise despised the poor for their poverty, nor honoured the rich for their possessions.  Nor if any took him by the hand to salute him was he the first to relinquish his grasp.”

He lived openly among his disciples, holding frequent converse with them, mending his own clothes and even shoes, a frugal liver and a fervent preacher of the flaming faith within him.  He became at this time betrothed to Ayesha, the splendid woman, now just a merry child, who was to keep her reigning place in his affections until the end of his life.  Daughter of Abu Bekr, she united in herself for Mahomet both policy and attractiveness, for by this betrothal he became of blood-kin with Abu Bekr, and thereby strengthened his friend’s allegiance.  The union marks the inauguration of his policy of marriage alliances by which he bound the supporters of his Faith more closely to him, either through his own marriage with their daughters, or the bestowal of his offspring upon them.

Ayesha was lovely and imperious, with a luxurious but shrewd nature, and her counsel was always sought by Mahomet.  Other women appeared frequently like comets in his sky, flamed for a little into brightness and disappeared into conjugal obscurity, but Ayesha’s star remained fixed, even if it was transitorily eclipsed by the brilliance of a new-comer.  Sexual relations held for Mahomet towards the end of his life a peculiar potency, born of his intense energetic nature.  He sought the society of woman because of the mental clarity that for him followed any expression of emotion.  He was one of those men who must express—­the artist, in fact; but an artist who used the medium of action, not that of literature, painting, or music.  “Poete, il ne connut que la poesie d’action,” and like Napoleon, his introspection was completely overshadowed by his consuming energy.  Therefore emotion was to him unconsciously the means by which this immortal energy of mind could be conserved, and he used it unsparingly.

Ayesha has revealed for us the most intimate details of Mahomet’s life, and it is due to her that later traditions are enabled to represent him as a man among men.  He appears to us fierce and subtle, by turns impetuous and calculating, a man who never missed an opportunity, and gauged exactly the efforts needed to compass any intention.  To him “every fortress had its key, and every man his price.”  He was as keen a politician us he was a religious reformer, but before all he paid homage to the sword,