Guillaume--Life of Muhammad.pdf - Radical Truth

286 The Life of 1Vfuhammad
some men of B. Mudlij working at a well and on the date palms. 'Ali
suggested I that we should go and see what the men \vere doing, so ,ve \vent
and watched them for a time until we were overcome by drO\vsincss and
we went and lay down under some young palms and fell fast asleep in the
soft fine dust. And then who should wake us but the apostle himself as he
stirred us with his foot! It \vas as \ve \vere dusting ourselves that the apostle
said to 'Ali when he sa\\' him covered with dust, '\\/hat have you been up
to, Abu Turiib (father of dust) " Then he went on, 'Shall I tell you of the
two most wretched creatures? Ul)aymir of Thamud who slaughtered the
camel, and he who shall strike you here, 'AIi'-and he put his hand to the
side of his head-'until this is soaked from if-and he took hold of his
beard.
A learned traditionist told me that the real reason \vhy the apostle called
'Ali Abu Turab \vas that when 'Ali' was angry \"ith Fatima he would not
speak to her. He did not say anything to annoy her, but he used to sprinkle
dust on his head. \Vhenever the apostle saw dust on 'Ali's head he knew
that he was angry with Fatima and he \vould say, '\Vhat is your trouble, 0
Abu Turab?' Dut God knows the truth of the mattcr.
THE RAID OF SA'D B.
ABt \VAQQ.:\~
I\Ic(lmyhile the apostlc had sent Sa'd b. Abil \"aqqa5 \\lith cight men from
the emigrants. He went as far as al-Kharrar in the Bijaz. Thcn he returned
42.1 without fighting (347).
THE RAID 0.:\ SAFAWj\~, \VHICH IS TILE FIRST RAID OF BADR
The apostle stayed only a fcw nights, less than ten, in l\Iedina when he
came back from raiding AI-'l:shayra, and then Kurz b. Jabir al-Fihri
raided the pasturing camcls of l\ledina. The apostle went out in search of
him (3+8), until he reachcd a valley called Safawan, in the neighbourhood
of Badr. Kurz escaped him and he could not overtake him. This was the
first raid of Bach. Then the apostle returned to ~1edina aml.stayed there
for the rest of Jumada'l Akhira, Rajab, and Sha'ban.
EXPEDITIO~ OF 'ABDULLAH B. JAI.JSII A:;,\"D THE
COJ\lING DOWN OF 'THEY \VILL ASK YOU ABOUT THE
SACRED T\10NTH'
Thc apostle sent ';\bclullah h. Jal)sh b. Ri'ab al-i1.sadi in Rajah on his
return from the first Badr. ITe scnt with him eight emigrants, without any
of the An~ar. lIe wrote for him a letter, and ordcred him not to look at it
I In T. (1271 lilt.) the suggestion is made to 'Ali by 'Ammar. Someone has been guilty
('f a deliberate alteration.
The LIfe of Muhammad 287
until he had journeyed for t\VO days, and to do what he was ordered to do
bu~ not to put pressure on any of his companions. The names of the eigh~
emIgrants were, Abu I:ludhayfa, 'Abdullah b. Jal:zsh, 'likkasha b. l\Iihsan
'Utba b. Ghazwiin, Sad b. Abu Waqqiie, 'Amir b. Rab!'a, wiiqiri b: 4 2 4
'Abdullah, and Khiilid b. al-Bukayr.'
When 'Abdullah had travelled for two days he opened the letter and
looked into it, and this is what it said; '\Vhcn 'VOll have rcad this letter of
mine proceed until you reach Nakhla between l\Tccca and Al-Ta'if. Lie in
wait there for Quraysh and find out for us what they arc doiI~g.' Having
read the letter he said, 'To hear is to obey.' Then hc said to his companions,
'The apostle has commanded me 'to go to Nakhla to lie in wait
there for Quraysh so as to bring him ne\ys of them. He has forbidden me
to put pressure on any of you, so if anyone wishes for martyrdom let him
go forward, and he who docs not, let him go hack; as for me~I am going on
as the prophet has ordered.' So he \vent on, as did all his companions, not
one of them falling back. He journe}'ed along the Bijaz until at a mine
called BaJ:1ran above al-Furu', Sa'd and 'Utba lost the camel which they
were riding by turns, so they stayed behind to look for it,' while 'Abdullail
and t~c. rest of them went on to ::,\vakhla. A caravan of Quraysh carrying
?ry ralsms and leather and other merchandise of Quraysh passed by thcm,
Amr b. al-I,ladrami (349), 'Uthmiin b. Abdullah b. al-:Ylughira and his
brot~er J\Taufal the l\Iakhzumites, and al-ljakam b. Kaysin, freedman
of Hlsham b. al-l\lughira being among them. \\'hen the caravan saw them
they were afraid of them because thc)' had camped ncar them. 'Ckkasha,
who had shaved his head, looked down on theIll, and when they saw him
they felt safe and said, 'They are pilgrims, you have nothing to fear from
them.' The raiders took council among themselvcs, for thi's was the last
~ay of Rajab, and they said, 'If you lea\;e them alone tonight the:y will get
Into the sacred area and will be safe from vOU' and if you kill them vou .+25
will kill them in the sacred month,' so th;v \\:ere hesitant and fear~(j to
attack them. Then they encouraged each ~other, and decided to kill as
many as they could of them and take what they had. \VJqid shot 'Ann b.
al-I:Ia