Jesus In India — Page 164
154 JESUS IN INDIA this Kais and his companions fought so well and suc- cessfully in the cause of the Prophet, that Muhammad, on dismissing them to their homes, presented them with handsome gifts, complimented them on their bravery, and giving them his blessing foretold a glorious career for their nation, and promised that the title of Malik (or king) should distinguish their chiefs for ever. . . . At the same time the Prophet, as a mark of special favour and dis- tinction, was pleased to change the Hebrew name of Kais to the Arab one of Abdur Rashid- "the servant of the true guide"- and, exhorting him to strive in the conver- sion of his people, conferred on him the title of “Pahtán,” -a term which the Afghan book-makers explain to be a Syrian word signifying the rudder of a ship, as the new proselyte was henceforth to be the guide of his people in the way they should go. Page 17. At what period the Afghans of Ghor moved for- ward and settled in the Kandahar country, which is now their home, is not known. It appears, however, from the writings of the early Muhammadan historians, that in the first century of their era—the seventh-eighth of ours— the province of Sistan was occupied by an Indian people. Page 19. Kais, they say, married a daughter of that Khalid- bin-Walíd who brought his people the first tidings of the Prophet and his doctrine, and by her he had three sons, whom he named respectively, Saraban, Batan, and Ghurghusht. . .