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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7 1 9<br />
7 20<br />
4 S6 The <strong>Life</strong> <strong>of</strong> <strong>Muhammad</strong><br />
had intended, he said, "Vere we to come down to 'usfan the ~eccans<br />
would think that we intend to come to l\Iecca.' So he wellt out wIth two<br />
hundred riders until he came to 'Usfan, when he sent two horsemen from<br />
his companions who wellt as far as Kura'u'1-Ghamim. 1 Then he turned<br />
and went back. .<br />
Jabir b. 'Abdullah used to say, 'I heard the apostle say when he set his<br />
face towards Medina "Returning repentant If G~d wIll, wvmg thanks ,to<br />
out. Lord. I take refuge in God from the difficultIes <strong>of</strong> the JO,~;ney and Its<br />
unhappy ending, and the evil appearance <strong>of</strong> m.an and ~ea~t. •<br />
The tradition about. the raid on B. Li1?yan IS from A~lm tb. Uma~ .b.<br />
Qatada and 'Abdullah b. Abu Bakr from 'Abdullah b. Ka b b. Mahk.<br />
Kab b. Malik said:<br />
If B. Li!)yan had waited<br />
They would have met bands in their settlements, fine fighters. ,<br />
They would have met audacious warrIOrs whose terror fills the way<br />
In front <strong>of</strong> an irresistible force glivering like stars.<br />
But they were as weasels who stick to the,<br />
Clefts <strong>of</strong> the rocks', which have no means <strong>of</strong> escape.<br />
THE ATTACK O~<br />
DHU QARAD<br />
The apostle had spent only a few nights in Medina when 'U~ayna.b. I:Ii~n<br />
b. Hudhayfa b. Badr al-Fazar! with the cavalry <strong>of</strong> Gha\afan raided the<br />
apo~tle's milch-camels in al-Ghaba.' A man <strong>of</strong> B. Ghifar, who had hiS<br />
wife with him, was in charge <strong>of</strong> the camels. HIm they kIlled and earned<br />
<strong>of</strong>f his wife with the camels.<br />
'Asim b, 'Umar b. Qatada and 'Abdullah b. Abu Bakr and a man 1do<br />
not s~spectfrom 'Abdullah b. Kab b. Malik contribu~ed to the story w?,ch<br />
follows. The first to know <strong>of</strong> them was Salama b. Amr b. al-Akwa al<br />
Aslami. That morning he was making for al-Ghaba a~med With bow and<br />
arrows accompanied by a slave belongmg to Tal!)a b. Ubayd~ll~? With a<br />
horse which he was leading. \Vhen he got to the pass <strong>of</strong> ai-Vii ada he s~w<br />
some <strong>of</strong> their cavalry and looked down in the direction <strong>of</strong> Sal~ ~nd cned<br />
aloud, '0 (what a) morning!' Then he hurried <strong>of</strong>f after the raldmg party<br />
like a lion. \\Then he came up with them he began to keep them at bay<br />
with arrows, saying as he shot:<br />
Take that, al-Akwa"s son am I.<br />
Today, mean crowd, you die!<br />
Whenever the horsemen made for him he fled from them; then back he<br />
would come and take a shot at them when he could, saying the. same words.<br />
One <strong>of</strong> them said, 'Our little Akwa' comes early in the mornmgl'<br />
I Between I\1ecca and Medina, a wadi some eight miles from 'Usfan.<br />
~ Or, with a different vowel, 'the heart'.<br />
3 A variant is 'passes <strong>of</strong> J:lijiz'. .. Near Medina in the direction <strong>of</strong> Syria.<br />
The LIfe <strong>of</strong> <strong>Muhammad</strong> 487<br />
Ibnu'l-Akwa"s call for aid reached the apostle and he ordered the alarm<br />
to be sounded in lVledina and the cavalry raWed to him. The first horseman<br />
to arr;ve was al-Miqdad b. 'Amr called b. al-Aswad, ally <strong>of</strong> B. Zuhra.<br />
The next to arrive from. the An~Jr were'Abbiid b. Bishr b. \Vaqsh b.<br />
Zughba b. Zaura', one <strong>of</strong> B. 'Abdu'I-Ashhal; So'd b. Zayd, one <strong>of</strong> B. Ka'b<br />
b. 'Abdu'l-Ashhal; Gsayd b. (:uhaxr, brother <strong>of</strong> B. Haritha b. al-J.1arith,<br />
though there is some doubt about him; 'Ukasha b. Miry1?an, brother <strong>of</strong> B.<br />
Asad b. Khuzayma; Muhriz b. ~adla, brother <strong>of</strong> B. Asad b. Khuzayma;<br />
Abu Qatada al-J::!arith b. Rib'i, brother <strong>of</strong> B. Salima; and Abu 'Ayyash<br />
who was 'Ubayd b. Zayd b. al-Samit, brother <strong>of</strong> lJ. Zurayq. When they<br />
had gathered to the apostle, he set Sa'd b. Zayd over them according to my<br />
information and told them to go in pursuit <strong>of</strong> the band until he himself<br />
overtook them with the army.<br />
I have heard from some men <strong>of</strong> B. Zurayq that the apostle had said to<br />
Abu 'Ayyash: 'How would it be if you were to give this horse to a man<br />
who is a better rider than you and he caught up with the band?' He<br />
replied: 'I am the best horseman <strong>of</strong> the people! Then I beat the horse,<br />
and by Allah he had not taken me fifty cubits before he threw me. r was<br />
AStonished that the apostle should say that he wished that r had given him<br />
to a better horseman and that I should have said that 1 was the best horseman.'<br />
Men <strong>of</strong> B. Zurayq allege that the apostle gaye Abu 'Ayyiish's horse 721<br />
to Mu'adh b. Ma'is, or to ')\'idh b. Mil'is b. Qays b. Khalada who was the<br />
eighth. Some people count Salama b. 'Amr b. aI-Alma' as one <strong>of</strong> the eight<br />
and exclude Usayd b. Zuhayr, but God knows what happened, seeing that<br />
Salama was not riding that day but was the first to catch up with the band<br />
on foot. The horsemen went in pursuit <strong>of</strong>the band until they overtook them.<br />
'A~im b, 'Umar b. Qatada told me that the first horseman to catch up<br />
with the band was Mu!)riz b. Nac.lla who was called 'al-Akhram' and<br />
IQumayr', and that \vhen the alarm sounded a horse belonging to l\1a1)mud<br />
b, Maslama ran round the plantation when it heard the neighing <strong>of</strong> the<br />
horses, for it was a treasured animal not put to work. \Vhen some \vomen<br />
<strong>of</strong> B. 'Abdu'I-Ashhal saw the horse running round the plantation \vith the<br />
stump <strong>of</strong> wood to which it was tied they said: 'How would you like to ride<br />
this horse, Qumayr? You can see what it is like. Then you could overtake<br />
the apostle and the Muslims.' He agreed and they handed it over to him,<br />
and he soon outstripped the rest <strong>of</strong> them because it was full <strong>of</strong>spirit. \Vhen<br />
he overtook the band and came to a halt in front <strong>of</strong> them he said: 'Stop,<br />
you rascals, until the emigrants and An~ar \\'ho are behind you catch up<br />
with you.' One <strong>of</strong> them attacked and killed him. The horse wheeled and<br />
they could not stop him until it stood by its stable among B. 'Abdu'l<br />
Ashhal. This man was the only Muslim to be killed (732).<br />
Ma!)miid's horse was called Dhu'l-Limma (733).<br />
One whom I do not suspect told me from 'Abdullah b. Ka'b b. Malik<br />
that Mu!)riz rode a horse <strong>of</strong> ' Ukashas called al-Janal). Mu!)riz' was killed 722<br />
I<br />
C. has Mujazziz, but gives no authority for the reading.