Guillaume--Life of Muhammad.pdf - Radical Truth

196 The Life of Aluhammad
284 of importance coming to Ylecca he went t,o them ;"ith .~is mess~~c. 'j\~~m
b. 'Umar b. Qatada al-An::;ari-morc prcClse1y al-0afall-~on tht: ,H1tl,l~)n~y
of some 0 f h IS · S haykho~ told me that they• said ' that Suwavd .. ~ b. at-Sam!!,
" ,
brother of the B. 'Amr b. 'Auf, came to Mecca O? pdgnmage. ~u\vayd s
tribesmen used to call him al-Kamil because of hiS toughness, hIS poetry,
his honour, and his lineage. He it was who said:
There's many a man you call fr~end you ~d be shocked
If you knew the lies he tells agamst .you In secret.
\Vhile he's with you his words arc lIke honey;
Behind your back a sword aimed at the base of the neck.
"Vhat you see of him pleases you, but underneath
He's a deceitful backbiter cutting through to the marrow.
His eyes will show you what he's concealing,
Rancour and hatred are in his evil look.
Strengthen me with good deeds: long have ~ou \veakened me. 1
The best friends strengthen without weakemng.
He once had a dispute with a man of the B. Sulaym-{)ne ofthe B. Zi'b b.
Malik-overa hundred camels, and they appointed an Arab woman dlvIlle~
arbitrator and she gave judgement in his favour, and he and the Sulaml
went away alone. When they reached the parting of the ways Suwayd
asked for his property. The man promised to send It, but Suwayd wanted
to know who would guarantee that the animals would be ha.nded ~vcr. As
he could offer none but himself, Su\vayd refused to leave.hIm untt! he got
his due. So they came to blows and Suwayd knocked, hIm down, bound
him closely and took him away to the country of tl:c B. Amr; a.nd there he
had to stay until his tribesmen paid what was owmg. It was III reference
to that, Suwayd composed these lines:
Don't think Ibn Zi'b son of Malik, that I
Am like the'man you deceitfully slew in secret.
V\'hcn I had been thrown I manfully became your match­
Thus the resolute man can changc his position-
I locked him under my left arm
And his cheek remained in the dirt.
.85 When he heard about him the apostle sought him out and invited him
to Islam. He said, 'Perhaps you've got something like that ,;hlch I. have.'
'And \vhat is that?' asked the apostle. 'The roll of Luqman, meanmg the
wisdom of Luqman, he answered. 'Hand it t? me,' said the ap?stle, and
he handed it over and he said, 'This discourse IS fine, but t.hat .which .1 have
is better still, a Quran which God has revealed to m.e WhiC~ IS .a gUl~ance
and a light.' And the apostle recited the Quran to hIm and Illvlted hIm to
I Lit, 'feather me ... cut me', The figure is that of an arrow w~lich is feathered to
·ncrease its flight and ",-hittled into ~hnpe for the same reason, Feathenng can do no harm,
~ut whittling rna;- cause the arrow to break: necessary it is, but it must not be overdone.
The Liji' of Jlulw/JIl!lad '97
Islam; he did not \vithdraw from it but said, 'This is 8. fine saying.' Then
he went off and rejoined his people in ;\·IcJin3. and almost at once the
Khazraj killcd him. Somc' of his family llSU] to say, 'In Ollr opinion he was
a Muslim whcn he \\"as killed'; he \\-3S (in Let) killed before the battle of
Bu',lth. 1
IY}"S ACCEPTS ISLA1\l
Al-~Iu,ayn b. 'Abdu'I-Ral;Jniin b. 'Amr b. Sa'd b. :Vlu'iidh on the authority
of MatlffiC!d b. Labid told me that when Abu'I-I,Iaysar Anas h. Rafi' came
to l\lecca with members of the B. 'Abdu'l-Ashhal including I:yas b. :!\Iu'adh
seeking an alliance with Quraysh against their sister tribe the Khazraj, the
apostle heard about them. lIt; came and sat with them and asked them if
they would like to get something more prufitable than tpeir present errand.
\Vhen they asked him \,,-hat that could be he told them that he was God's
apostle sent to humanity to call on them to serve God and not associate
any other with Him; that He had revealed a book to him; then he told them
about Islam and read to them some of the Quran. Iyas, who was a young
man, said, 'By God, people, this is something better than you came for!'
Thereupon Abii'l-!:Iaysar took a handful of dirt from the valley and threw
it in his face, saying, 'Shut up! \~/e didn't come here for this.' So Iyas
became silent. The apostle left them and they went to :\ledina and the .86
battle of Bu'ath between Aus and Khazraj took place.
Within a little while Iyiis died. :\lal)miid said: 'Those of his people
who were present at his death told me that they heard him continually
praising and glorifying God until he died. Thcy had no doubt that he
died a l\Tuslim, he having become acquainted with Islam at that gathering
When he heard the apostle speak.
THE BEGINNING OF ISLAM AMONG TI-IE HELPERS
When God wished to display His religion openly and to glorify His prophet
and to fulfil His promise to him, the time came \vhen he met a numher of
the Helpers at one of the fairs; and while he was offering himself to the
Arab tribes as was his wont he met at al- 'Aqaba a number of the Khazraj
whom God intended to benefit.
'A,im b. Tmar b. Qatiida told me on the authority of some of the
shaykhs of his tribe that they said that when the apostle met them he
learned by inquiry that they were of the Khazraj and allies of the Jews.
He invited them to sit with him and expounded to them Islam and recited
the Quran to them, Now God had prepared the way for Islam in that they
lived side by side with the Jews who \vere people of the scriptures and
knowledge, while they themselves were polytheists and idolaters. They
had often raided them in their district and whenever bad feeling arose the
I
The battle between Aus and Khazrllj; f),i,