Guillaume--Life of Muhammad.pdf - Radical Truth

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The Life of Muhammad
'Abdullah b. Abu Naji\> told me from Mak\>ul that the apostle prohibited
four things that day: carnal intercourse with pregnant women who were
captured; eating the flesh of domestic donkeys; eating any carnivorous
animal; and selling booty before it had been duly allotted.
Salliim b. Kirkira told me from 'Amr b. Dinar from Jabir b. 'Abdullah
al-An~ari (Jabir had not been present at Khaybar) that when the apostle
forbade the flesh of donkeys he allowed them to eat horseflesh.
759 Yazid b. AbU J:Iabib told me from Abu Marzuq client of Tujib from
J:Ianash al-i;>an'ani: With Ruwayfi' b. Thabit al-An~ari we attacked the
Maghrib, and one of its towns called Jirba I was conquered. A man arose
as a preacher and said, 'Let me tell you what I heard the apostle say on the
day of Khaybar. He got up among us and said: "It is not lawful for a man
who believes in Allah and the lasttlay to mingle his seed with another man's
(meaning to approach carnally a pregnant woman among the captives), nor
is it lawful for him to take her until he has made sure that she is in a state
of cleanness; nor is it lawful for him to sell booty until it has been properly
divided; nor is it lawful for him to ride an animal belonging to the booty of
the Muslims with the intention of returning it to the pool when he has
worn it out; nor is it lawful for him to wear a garment belonging to the
booty of the Muslims with the intention of returning it to the pool when
he has reduced it to rags.'"
Yazid b. 'Abdullah b. QusaYI told me that he was told from 'Ubada b.
al-i;>amit: On the day of Khaybar the apostle forbade us to buy or sell gold
are for gold coin or silver are for silver coin. He said, 'Buy gold are with
silver coin and silver are with gold coin.' Then the apostle began to take
the forts and the property one by one.
'Abdullah b. Abu Bakr told me that one of Aslam told him that B. Sahm
of Aslam came to the apostle and complained that they had fought and got
nothing and found nothing with the apostle which he could give them. He
said: ~O God, You know their condition and that they have no strength,
and that I have nothing to give them, so conquer for them the wealthiest
of the enemy's forts with the richest food.' The follpwing day God conquered
the fort of al-i;>a'b b, Mu'adh which contained the richest food in
Khaybar.
760 When the apostle had conquered some of their forts and got possession
of some of their property he came to their two forts al-\Vapl; and al-Sulalim,
the last to be taken, and the apostle besieged them for some ten nights
(760).
'Abdullah b. Sahl b. 'Abdu'l-Ra\>man b. Sahl, brother of B. I:Iaritha,
told me from Jabir b. 'Abdullah: Marl;1ab the Jew came out from their fort
carrying his weapons and saying:
Khaybar knows that I am Marhab,
An experienced warrior armed from head to foot,
I
An island near Qlibis.
The Life of Muhammad
Now piercing, now slashing,
As when lions advance in their rage.
The hardened warrior gives way before my onslaught;
My (lima' cannot be approached.
5 ' 3
With these words he challenged all to single combat and Ka'b b. Malik
answered him thus:
Khaybar knows that I am Ka'b,
The smoother of difficulties, bold and dour.
When war is stirred up another follows.
I carry a sharp sword that glitters like lightning­
We will tread you down till the strong are humbled;
We will make you pay till the spoil is divided-
In the hand of a warrior sans reproche (761).'
The apostle said, 'Who will deal with this fellow I' Muhammad b.
Maslama said that he would, for he was bound to take revenge on the man
who had killed his brother the day before. The apostle told him to go and
prayed Allah to help him. When they approached the one the other an
old tree with soft wpod' lay between them and they began to hide behind
it. Each took shelter from the other. When one hid behind the tree the
other slashed at it with his sword so that the intervening branches were
cut away' and they came face to face. The tree remained bereft of its
branches like a man standing upright. Then Mar\>ab attacked Muhammad
b. Maslama and struck him. He took the blow on his shield and the sword
bit into it and remained fast. Muhammad then gave Mar\>ab a fatal wound.
After Mar\>ab's death his brother Yasir came out with his challenge:
(Khaybar knows that I am Yiisir,
Fully armed, a doughty warrior.
As when lions advance at a rush
The enemy give way before my onslaught.)
Hisham b. 'Urwa alleged that al-Zubayr b. al-'Awwam went out to fight
Yiisir. His mother i;>afiya d. 'Abdu'l-Munalib said, 'Will he kill my son, a
apostle I' He replied, 'Nay, your son will kill him, if God will.' So al­
Zubayr went out saying (T.
Khaybar know that I am Zabbar,
Chief of a people no cowardly runaways,
The son of those who defend their glory, the son of princes.
I The sacred territory of an idol or a sanctuary and so any place that a man is bound to
protect from violation.
:& The obviouS break in the sense is corrected in I.H.'s vemon. 'Lightning' ('aqiq) in 1...
may mean 'a jewel'.
3 Said by Lane, 20SIC, to be the Asckpias gigantea or ereat awallow·wort.
" To', text (1576) is clearer here.
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