Guillaume--Life of Muhammad.pdf - Radical Truth

558 The Life of Muhammad The Life of Muhammad
Among the poems about the conquest is the following from I:Iassan b.
Thabit:
From Dha!u'l-A,iibi' and al-Jiwii" to 'Adhra'2
Traces have disappeared, their camping-ground is empty.
The camps of B. al-I:Ias\1as 3 are a desert
Obliterated by wind and rain.
There used always to be a friend there;
Its pastures held choice camels and sheep.
But leave that! Who will rid me of the night vision
Which keeps me from sleep when night's first hours have gone,
Of Sha'tha" who fills me with longing
So that my heart cannot be cured of it ?
She is like the wine of Bayt Ras s
Mixed with honey and water.-
All draughts that could be mentioned
Cannot be compared with that wine.
We blame it for what we do amiss
If we are quarrelsome or insulting to others.
When we drink it we are as kings and lions,
Nothing can keep us from the fray.
May we lose our horses if you do not see them 6
Raising the dust-clouds, their rendezvous Kada'.
They tug at the reins turning their necks to one side,
The thirsty lances couched above their shoulp.ers.
As our horses raced- along,?
The women flapped their veils in their faces.
If you don't oppose us we shall celebrate the 'Umra,
The conquest will be completed and the covering removed.
But if you do, expect a fight on the day
When God helps those He pleases.
Gabriel, God's messenger, is with us and
The holy spirit has no equal.
God said, 'I have sent a man
Wh6 speaks the truth if you will profit by experience.
, These places are in Syria; the latter was the camp of al-Barith b. Abu Shamr the
Ghassanid whom l;Iassan used to visit.
Z One post distant from Damascus.
J A clan of B. Asad.
4 Who this woman was is not certain: some say she was d. Sallamb. IVlishkam the Jew;
others say a woman of Khuza'a; others someone else.
S A place in Jordan noted for i.ts wine.
6 From this point the poem begins its theme.
7 Tama.ttam in this sense is supported by T. ,650,. i:ZV. Gloss. 'Rain-bespattered', suggested
by A.Dh., gives a poor sense unless it is a poetical way of saying that the sides of the
horses were covered with foam. The Lisdn explains that the women flapped their veils to
hinder them. The reading in J)hJ..'lin and in some MSS. yubiirina'l-asinnata may be right:
'they try to cateh up with the points of the lances whose thirsty shafts were couched above
their shoulders'. The horses could see the lance tips on their right front. Cf. W. 707. 15.
I bear witness to him, so arise! confess him truthfu1.'
But you said, 'We will not and we do not wish to.'
And God said, 'I have sent an army,
The Ansar accustomed to the fray.'
Every d~y we get from Ma'add'
Cursing, battle, or lampoor;ing.
We will repulse with verses those who lampoon us
And smite them when war breaks out.
Give Abu Sufyan a message from me,
For what was hidden has become clear,
Namely that our swords have left you a slave,
The heads of the 'Ahdu'l-Diir mere bondwomen.
You lampooned Muhammad and I answered for him:
There is a reward for that with God.
Would you lampoon him whom you cannot equal?
(The worse of you be a ransom for the better of you!)
You have lampooned the pure blessed ~anif,
God's trusted one whose nature is loyalty.
Is he who lampoons God's apostle
And he who praises and helps him equal?
My father, my grandfather, and my honour
Protect Muhammad's honour against you.
My tongue is a sharp sword without a flaw,
My verse a sea which the buckets cannot make turbid (8Il). J
Anas b. Zunaym al-Dili apologizing to the apostle for what