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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12<br />
The <strong>Life</strong> <strong>of</strong> <strong>Muhammad</strong><br />
And left those men an example to the discerning.<br />
Dhu'l-Qarnayn before me was a Muslim<br />
Conquered kings thronged his court,<br />
East and west he ruled, yet he sought<br />
Knowledge true from a learned sage.<br />
He saw where the sun sinks from view<br />
In a pool <strong>of</strong> mud and fetid slime.<br />
Before him Bilqis my father's sister<br />
Ruled them until the hoopoe came to her.)'<br />
THE REIGN OF HIS SON I;IASSAN IBN TIBAN AND HOW<br />
'AMR KILLED HIS BROTHER<br />
When his son I;Iassan b. Tiban As'ad Abu Karib came to the throne he<br />
set out with the Yamanites to subdue the land <strong>of</strong> the Arabs ~nd P~rslans.<br />
However, when they reached a place in Iraq (27) the I;Ilmyante an?<br />
Yamanite tribes were unwilling to go farther and wanted to return to th~lr<br />
families, so they approached one <strong>of</strong> his brothers call~d 'Amr who was WIth<br />
him in the army and said that if he would kIll hIS brother th.ey would<br />
make him king so that he might lead them home agam. He_saId, that he<br />
would do so, and they all agreed to join in the plot except Dhu Ru ayn th~<br />
I;Iimyarite. He forbade him to do this, but he would not heed, so Dhu<br />
Ru'ayn wrote the following verses:<br />
Oh who would buy sleeplessness for sleep?<br />
Happy is he who passes the night in peace;<br />
Though I;Iimyar have been treacherous,<br />
God will hold Dhu Ru'ayn blameless.<br />
He sealed the document and brought it to 'Amr, saying: 'Keep this with<br />
you for me,' and he did so. Then 'Amr killed his. brot~er I;Iassan and<br />
returned to the Yaman with his men.' One <strong>of</strong> the I;Ilmyantes was moved<br />
to say:<br />
In former generations<br />
What eyes have seen .<br />
The like <strong>of</strong> Hassiin who has been slam I<br />
The princes 'slew him lest they should be kept at war.<br />
On the morroW they said 'It is naught!'<br />
Your dead was the best <strong>of</strong> us and your living one<br />
Is lord over uS while all <strong>of</strong> you are lords.<br />
t The poem is spurious; it is not difficult to see how 1. IsOiiq pe.rsua~ed hirna,elf to<br />
incorporate such an obvious forgery in a serious historical work. At_~J:U8 POInt Tab. lI?trOduces<br />
a long passage from I. I. A much longer story via 'Uthman b. Saj 18 gIven by Azr. 1. 79·<br />
2 T. 9 1 5. 1;18888n vainly appeals to his brother thus:<br />
Do not hasten my death, 0 'Ann.<br />
Take the kingdom without using force.<br />
The <strong>Life</strong> <strong>of</strong> <strong>Muhammad</strong> '3<br />
The words 'labiibi lababi' mean 'no matter' in the I;Iimyari language (28).<br />
. Whe~ Amr b. Tibiin retu':'led to. the Yaman he could not sleep and '9<br />
msomma took a firm hold <strong>of</strong> him. Bemg much concerned at this, he asked<br />
the physicians and those <strong>of</strong> the soothsayers and diviners who were seers<br />
about his trouble. One <strong>of</strong> them said: 'No man has ever killed his brother or<br />
kinsman tr~acherously "': you kille,d your .brother without losing his sleep<br />
and becommg a prey to msomma. At thIS he began to kill all the nobles<br />
who had urged him to murder his brother I;Iassan, till finally he came to<br />
Dhu Ru'ayn who claimed that 'Amr held the pro<strong>of</strong> <strong>of</strong> his innocence,<br />
namely the paper which he had given him. He had it brought to him and<br />
when he had read the two verses he let him go, recognizing that he had<br />
~ven .him good counsel.' When'Amr died the I;Iimyarite kingdom fell<br />
mto dISorder and the people split up into parties.<br />
HOW LAKHNI' A DHU SHANATIR SEIZED THE THRONE OF<br />
THE YAMAN<br />
A I;Iimyari who had no connexion with the royal house called Lakhni'a<br />
Yanuf D~u Shanatir' arose and killed <strong>of</strong>f their leading men and put the<br />
royal famIly to open shame. Of this man a certain I;Iimyari recited:<br />
J:Iimyar was slaying its sons and exiling its princes,<br />
Working its shame with its own hands,<br />
Destroying its worldly prosperity with frivolous thoughts.<br />
Even greater was the loss <strong>of</strong> their religion.<br />
So did earlier generations bring their doom<br />
By acts <strong>of</strong> injustice and pr<strong>of</strong>ligacy.<br />
Lakhni"a was a most evil man-a sodomite. He used to summon a<br />
young man <strong>of</strong> the royal family and assault him in a room which he had<br />
constructed for this very purpose, so that he could not reign after him.<br />
The~ he used to go from this upper chamber <strong>of</strong> his to his guards and<br />
soldiers, (who were below) having put a toothpick in his mouth to let them<br />
~ow that he had accomplished his purpose. (T. Then he would release<br />
him and he would appear before the guards and the people utterly disgraced.)<br />
One day he sent for Zur'a Dhu Nuwiis son <strong>of</strong> Tibiin As'ad<br />
brother <strong>of</strong>I;lassan. He was a little boy when I;Iassiin was murdered and had<br />
become a fine handsome young man <strong>of</strong> character and intelligence. When<br />
the messenger came he perceived what was intended and took a fine sharp<br />
knife and hid it under the sole <strong>of</strong> his foot and went to Lakhni'a. As soon 20<br />
as they were alone he attacked him and Dhu Nuwiis rushed upon him and<br />
stabbed him to death. He then cut <strong>of</strong>f his head and put it in the window<br />
I Tab. 916 f. contains a long poem ascribed to "Amr<br />
• S Nald., Oesch. d. Persn u. Araber, .73. notes that th~ name Lakhi'atha occurs in inscriptions<br />
and that shamitir means 'fingers'.