Muhammad: Seal of the Prophets — Page 376
MUHAMMAD : SEAL OF THE PROPHETS 376 with him two damsels of high status among the Copts, and raiment and a mule for you to ride upon. Peace be with you. ’ He committed the letter to Hatab who conveyed it to the Holy Prophet. Of the two damsels sent by Muqauqis, one was named Mary and the other was named Sireen. They were sisters. By the time they arrived in Medina they had embraced Islam under the instruction of Hatab. The Holy Prophet himself married Mary and gave her sister Sireen in marriage to the well - known Arab poet Hassan bin Thabet. From Mary a son was born to the Holy Prophet who was named Ibrahim. The mule was white and was named Duldul. The Holy Prophet rode it often. He was riding it during the battle of Hunain. One very interesting particular concerning the letter addressed by the Holy Prophet to Muqauqis is that after the passage of centuries the original of the letter was discovered in 1858 by Monsieur Etienne Barthelemy, member of a French expedition, in a mon astery in Egypt and is now carefully preserved in Constantinople. Several photographs of the letter have since been published. The first one was published in the well - known Egyptian newspaper Al - Hilal in November 1904; it is also reproduced at page 364 of Professor Margoliouth’s book, Muhammad and the Rise of Islam, and also at page 198 of an Egyptian publication, The Political History of Islam , by Dr. Hassan bin Ibrahim, Professor of History in the Islamic University of Cairo. Several non - Muslim scholars have confirmed that this is the original letter, which the Holy Prophet had addressed to Muqauqis, Viceroy of Egypt. The text of this