The translator has pointed out in his preface, and foot notes 5 and 21, that Muhammad himself never claimed any supernatural powers; that the attribution of miracles to the prophet is not warranted by the Koran; and that there is a space of seven hundred years between the two bio graphies mentioned in the preceding paragraph. But tradition, which grows with time as stories grow with repetition, has now heaped a mass oi' wonders upon the apostle's head. The earliest life of this great man, written by Ibn Ishak and Ibn Hisham in a very detailed and sober manner, makes but slight mention of miracles. But the Muhammadan masses, like the masses everywhere, are averse to philosophy, and hunger after marvels. Their understandings seem attainable only through their imagina tion and their senses. In a word, they prefer miracles to historical facts. And so it comes about that, the later the life of Muhammad, the greater the number of his miracles, and the more of them the better for the popularity of the work.