Guillaume--Life of Muhammad.pdf - Radical Truth

376 The Ltfe of Muhammad
carpet, an old man like a bughiith (589). He was quite sober and normal.
We saluted him, and he lifted his head to look at 'Ubaydullah, and said,
"Are you the son of 'Adiy b. al-Khiyiir 1" and when he said he was, he said,
i'By God, I have not seen you since I handed. you to your Sa'dite mother
565 who nursed you in Dhu Tuwa.' I handed you to her when she was on her
camel, and she clasped you round your body with her two hands. You
kicked' me with your feet when I lifted you up to her. By God, as soon as
you stood in front of me I recognized them." We sat down and told him
that we had come to hear his account of how he killed !:Iamza. He said,
"I will tell you as I told the apostle when he asked me about it. I was a
slave of Jubayr b. Munm, whose uncle Tu'ayma b. 'Adiy had been killed
at Badr, and when Quraysh set out for Ul;md, Jubayr told me that if I
killed !:Iamza, Muhammad's uncle, in revenge for his uncle, I should be
free. So I went out with the army, a young Abyssinian, skilful like my
countrymen in the use of the javelin-I hardly ever missed anything with
it. When the fight began I went out to look carefully for !:Iamza, until I
saw him in the midst of the army, like a great camel, slaying men with his
sword, none being able to resist him, and by God, I was getting ready for
him, making towards him and hiding myself behind trees or rocks so that
he might come near me, when suddenly Sibil' got to him first, and when
l;Iamza saw him, he said, "Come here, you son of a female circumciser,"
and struck him a blow so swiftly that it seemed to miss his head. I poised
my javelin until I was sure that it would hit the mark and launched it at
him. It pierced the lower part of his body and came out between his legs,
and he began to stagger towards me. Then he collapsed, and I left him
with the javelin until he died; then I came back and recovered my javelin,
and returned to the camp and stayed there, for I had no further business,
and my only object in killing him was that I might be freed. When I
returned to Mecca I was freed and lived there until the apostle conquered
Mecca, when I fled to al-Ta'if, and stayed there for some time. When the
envoys of Ta'if went out to the apostle to surrender, I was in an impasse
and thought that I would go to Syria or the Yaman, or any other country,
and while I was in this anxiety a man said to me, "Good heavens, what is
the matter? He-does not kill anyone who enters his religion and pronounces
the shahiida." On hearing this I went out of the town to the apostle at
Medina, and the first thing to surprise him was to see me standing, at his
head, witnessing to the truth of God and His apostle. When he saw me he
said, "Is it Wal).shi?" "Yes, 0 apostle of God," I said. He replied, "Sit
566 down and tell me how you killed !:Iamza." So I told him as I have told
you. When I had finished he said, "Woe to you, hide your face from me
and never let me see you again." So I used to avoid the apostle wherever
he was so that he should not see me, until God took him.
I
A place in Mecca,
1 Or, perhaps, 'Your feet looked shiny to me', In what respect this person's feet were not
normal is not indicated.
The Life of Muhammad 377
"When the Muslims went out against Musaylima, the false prophet, lord
of the Yamama, I accompanied them, and I took the javelin with which I
had killed !:Iarnza, and when the armies met I saw Musaylima standing
with a sword in his hand, but I did not recognize him. I made ready for
him and so did one of the An~ar from the other side, both of us intending
to kill him. I poised my javelin until I was sure that it would hit the mark,
and launched it at him, and it pierced him, and the An~ari rushed at him
and smote him with his sword, so your Lord knows best which of us killed
him. If I killed him, then I have killed the best man after the apostle and
I have also killed the worst man." ,
(\Vhen he came to l'vledina the men, said '0 apostle, this is Wal).shi' to s.
which he replied 'Let him alone for that one man should accept Islam is
dearer to me than the killing of a thousand unbelievers.'],
'Abdullah b. al-Fa