null 1516 days ago

An Arabian author cited by Maracci, says that Abubeker was very averse to the giving him his daughter Ayesha, so young, but that Mohammed pretended a divine command for it; whereupon he sent her to him with a basket of dates, and when the girl was alone with him, he stretched out his blessed hand (these are the author's words), and rudely took hold of her clothes; upon which she looked fiercely at him, and said, 'People call you the faithful man, but your behaviour to me shows you are a perfidious one.' And with these words she got out of his hands, and, composing her clothes, went and complained to her father. The old gentleman, to calm her resentment, told her she was new betrothed to Mohammed, and that made him take liberties with her, as if she had been his wife. - Simon Ockley (1678-1720) chosen Adams Professor of Arabic at Cambridge University