Guillaume--Life of Muhammad.pdf - Radical Truth
Guillaume--Life of Muhammad.pdf - Radical Truth
Guillaume--Life of Muhammad.pdf - Radical Truth
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3+ 2 The <strong>Life</strong> <strong>of</strong> <strong>Muhammad</strong> The <strong>Life</strong> <strong>of</strong> <strong>Muhammad</strong><br />
Its signs' are plain to men <strong>of</strong> sense.<br />
Some firmly believed in that and \vere convinced<br />
And (thanks to God) became one people;'<br />
Others disbelieved, their minds went astray<br />
And the Lord <strong>of</strong> the throne brought repeated calamities upon them;<br />
At Badr He gave them into the power <strong>of</strong> His apostle<br />
And an angry army who did valiantly.<br />
Not one people as you desire,<br />
By the loss <strong>of</strong> Ibn Jud'an, the praiseworthy,<br />
And 'Vtba, and him who is called Abu Jahl among you.<br />
Shayba and AI-Walld were among them,<br />
Umayya, the refuge <strong>of</strong> the poor, and Dhu'l-Rijl.'<br />
Weep for these and not for others,<br />
The keening women will bewail their loss and bereavement<br />
They smote them with their trusty swords,<br />
Furbished well, and polished.<br />
How many a lusty youngster,<br />
Many a hardy warrior did they leave prone.<br />
Their keening women spent a sleepless night,<br />
Their tears now strong, now weak.<br />
They keen for erring 'Vtba and his son,<br />
And Shayba and Abu Jahl<br />
And Dhu'I-RijP and Ibn Jud'an also,<br />
With burning throats in mourning garb displaying bereavement.<br />
Say to the people <strong>of</strong> Mecca, Assemble yourselves<br />
And go to palmy Medina's forts,<br />
Defend yourselves and fight, 0 people <strong>of</strong> Ka'b,<br />
With your polished and burnished swords<br />
Or pass the night in fear and trembling<br />
By day meaner than the sandal that is trodden underfoot.<br />
But know, 0 men that by AI-Lat, I am sure<br />
That you will not rest without taking vengeance.<br />
All <strong>of</strong> you, don your mail, take the spear,<br />
The helmet, sharp sword and arrows.<br />
'<br />
Dead in Badr's well lay many,<br />
Brave in war, generous in times <strong>of</strong> dearth;<br />
Error called them and some responded<br />
(For error has ways easy to adopt).<br />
Now they are in Hell,<br />
Too occupied to rage furiously against us.<br />
J;>irar b. al-Kha!\ab ~. Mirdas brother <strong>of</strong> B. Mul.larib b. Fihr said:<br />
Al-I:liirith b. Hisham b. al-Mughira answered him thus:<br />
I wonder at folk whose fool sings<br />
Of folly captious and vain,<br />
Singing about the slain at Badr<br />
\Vhen young and old vied in glorious endeavour,<br />
The brave swordsman <strong>of</strong> Lu'ayy, Ibn Ghalib,<br />
Thrusting in battle, feasting the hungry in times <strong>of</strong> dearth;<br />
They died nobly, they did not sell their family<br />
For strangers alien in stock and homeland,<br />
Like you \vho have made Ghassan your special friends<br />
Instead <strong>of</strong> us-a sorry deed,<br />
An impious, odious crime, and a severing <strong>of</strong> the ties <strong>of</strong> blood;<br />
Men <strong>of</strong> judgement and understanding perceive your wrongdoing,<br />
True, they are men who have passed away,<br />
But the best death is on the battlefield.<br />
Rejoice not that you have killed them,<br />
For their death will bring you repeated disaster.<br />
Now they are dead you will always be divided,<br />
lOr 'its messages'.<br />
2 shaml, or 'lived in harmony'. See Lyall, The Poems <strong>of</strong> 'Amr son <strong>of</strong> Qami'ah, Cambridge,<br />
1919, p. 14·<br />
J i.e. Al-Aswad whose leg I;lamzli hewed <strong>of</strong>f, t!.S.<br />
I wonder at the boasting <strong>of</strong> Aus when death is coming to them tomorro,",'<br />
(Since time contains its \varnings)<br />
And at the boasting <strong>of</strong> the Banu'l-Najjar because certain men died<br />
there,<br />
For all <strong>of</strong> them \vere steadfast men.<br />
U some <strong>of</strong> our men were left dead<br />
We shall leave others dead on the field.'<br />
OUf flying steeds will carry us among you,<br />
Till we slake our vengeance, 0 Banu'l-Aus,<br />
We shall return to the charge in the midst <strong>of</strong> the Banu'I-Najjar,<br />
O'Jr horses snorting under the weight <strong>of</strong> the spearmen clad in mail.<br />
Your dead \ve shall leave with vultures circling round<br />
To look for help but a vain desire.<br />
Yathrib's women will mourn them<br />
Their nights long and sleepless '<br />
Because our swords will cut them down,<br />
Dripping with the blood <strong>of</strong> their victims.<br />
Though you won on the day <strong>of</strong> Badr<br />
Your good fortune was plainly due to A~mad<br />
And the chosen band, his friends,<br />
Who protected him in battle when death was at hand<br />
AbU Bakr and I~amza could be numbered among thc~<br />
1 Apparently al-Aswad the l\1akhzumite ,...hose leg was cut <strong>of</strong>f as he tried to drink<br />
from the well at Badr is meant. Sec \V. 442.<br />
2 i.e. <strong>of</strong> the enemy. C. and W. differ in this line.<br />
343<br />
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