Guillaume--Life of Muhammad.pdf - Radical Truth

498 The Life of Muhammad
Then Safwan b. al-Mu'attal met Hassan b. Thabit with a sword when
he heard ~'hat he was saying: about him, for Bassan had also uttered some
verse alluding to him and the Arabs of Mue;lar who had accepted Islam:
The vagabond immigrants have become powerful and numerous
And Ibnu'I-Furay'a has become solitary in the land.'
As good as bereaved is the mother of the man I fight
Or caught in the claws of a lion.
The man I kill will not be paid for
By money or by blood.
When the wind blows in the north and the sea rides high
And bespatters the shore with foam
'Tis no more violent than I when you see me in a rage
Devastating as a cloud of hail.
As for Quraysh, I will never make peace with them
Until they leave error for righteousness
And abandon al-Lat and al-'Uzz'
And all bow down to the One, The Eternal,
And testify that what the apostle said to them is true,
And faithfully fulfil the solemn oath with God.'
$afwan met him and smote him with his sword, saying according to what
Ya'qub b. 'Utba told me:
Here's the edge of my sword for you!
When you lampoon a man like me you don't get a poem in return!
Muhammad b. Ibrahim b. al-Harith al-Taymi told me that Thiibit b.
Qays b. al-Shammas leapt upon $afwan when he smote Bassan and tied
his hands to his neck and took him to the quarter of B. al-Harith b. al­
Khazraj. Abdullah b. Rawa!)a met him and asked what had happened, and
he said: 'Do I surprise you? He smote Bassan with the sword and by
Allah he must have killed him.' Abdullah asked if the apostle knew about
what he had done, and when he said that he did not he told him that he
had been very dLtring and that he must free the man. lIe did so. Then
they came to the apostle and told him of the affair and he summoned
Hassan and Safwan. The latter said, 'He insulted and satirized me and
739 ;age so ove!"C~me me that I smote him.' The apostle said to I;Iassan, •Do
you look with an evil eye on my people because God has guided them to
Islam l' He added, 'Be charitable about what has befallen you.' Hassan
said, 'It is yours, a apostle' (743)'
The same informant told me that the apostle gave him in compensation
Bir Bil, today the castle of B. I;Iudayla in Medina. It was a property
belonging to Abu Tal!)a b. Sah! which he had given as alms to the apostle
I Here in a bad sense. He is speaking of himself submerged in a sea of refugees.
2 The language is reminiscent of the Quran. The point of the reference to $afwan is not
clear to me.
The LIfe of Muhammad 499
who gave it to Hassan for his blow. He also gave him Sirin a Copt slavegirl,
and she bare him 'Abdu'l-Rahman.
'A'isha used to say, 'Questions 'were asked about Ibnu'I-1iu'attal and
they found that he \vas impotent; he never touched women. He w~~ killed
as a martyr after this.'
I:Iassan b. ThJbit said, excusing himself for what he had said about
'A'isha:
Chaste, keeping to her house, above suspicion,
Never thinking of reviling innocent women;
A noble woman of the clan of Lu'ayy b. Ghalib,
Seekers of honour whose glory passes not away.
Pure, God having purified her nature
And cleansed her from all evil and falsehood.
If I said what you allege that I said
Let not my hands perform their office.
How could I, with my lifelong affection and support
For the family of the apostle who lends splendour to all gatherings
His rank so high above all others that
'
The highest leap would fall short of it?
What has been said will not hold
But is the word of one who would slander me (744).
A Muslim said about the flogging of :tlassan and his companions for 740
slandering 'A:isha (745):
!Jassan, I):amna, and l\1istal) tasted \vhat they deserved
For uttering unseemly slander;
They slandered with iII-founded accusations their prophet's wife;
They angered the Lord of the glorious throne and were chastised.
They injured God's apostle through her
And were made a public and lasting disgrace.
Lashes rained upon them like
Raindrops falling from the highest clouds.
THE AFFAIR OF AL-I.IUDAYBIYA, A.H. 6. THE WILLING
HOMAGE AND THE PEACE BETWEEK THE APOSTLE AND
SL'HAYL B.
'AMR
Then the apostle stayed in Mcdina during the months of Ramadan and
ShawwJI and went out on the little pilgrimage in Dhil'l-Qa'da ~ith n
intention of making war (746). He called together the Arabs and neigh~
b?un~g BedOUIn to march WIth him, feanng that Quraysh \vould oppose
hIm WIth arms or prevent him from vis~ting the temple, as they actually did.
Many of the Arabs held back from hIm, and he went out with the emigrants
and Anear and such of the Arabs as stuck to him. He took the