Guillaume--Life of Muhammad.pdf - Radical Truth
Guillaume--Life of Muhammad.pdf - Radical Truth
Guillaume--Life of Muhammad.pdf - Radical Truth
Create successful ePaper yourself
Turn your PDF publications into a flip-book with our unique Google optimized e-Paper software.
600 The <strong>Life</strong> <strong>of</strong> <strong>Muhammad</strong><br />
Though she be not trying, she races along on light slender feet that<br />
skim the ground as they fall,<br />
With tawny hock-tendons-feet that leave the gravel scattered and are<br />
not shod so that they should be kept safe from the blackness <strong>of</strong> the<br />
heaped stones, .<br />
The swift movement <strong>of</strong> her forelegs, when she sweats and the mIrage<br />
enfolds the hills-<br />
On a day when the chameleon basks in some high spot until its exposed<br />
part is baked as in fire,<br />
And, the grey cicalas having begun to hop on the gravel, the cameldriver<br />
bids his companions take the siesta- .<br />
Resembles the beating <strong>of</strong> hand on hand by a bereaved grey-haIred<br />
woman who rises to lament and is answered by those who have lost<br />
many a child, .<br />
One wailing shrilly, her arms weak, who had no understandmg when<br />
news was brought <strong>of</strong> the death <strong>of</strong> her firstborn s.on: .,<br />
She tears her breast with her hands, while her tumc IS rent m pIeces<br />
from her collar-bones.<br />
The fools walk on both sides <strong>of</strong> my camel, saying, 'Verily, a grandson<br />
<strong>of</strong> Abu Sulma, thou art as good as, slain';1<br />
And every friend <strong>of</strong> whom I was hopeful said, 'I will not help thee out:<br />
I am too busy to mind thee.'<br />
I said, 'Let me go my way, may ye have no father! for whatever the<br />
Merciful hath decreed shall be done.<br />
Every son <strong>of</strong> woman, long though his safety be, one day is borne upon<br />
a gibbous bier.'<br />
I was told that the Messenger <strong>of</strong> Allah threatened me (with death), but<br />
with the Messenger <strong>of</strong> Allah I have hope <strong>of</strong> finding pardon.<br />
Gently I mayst thou be guided by Him ,:"ho g~ve thee the gift <strong>of</strong> the<br />
Koran, wherein are warnings and a plam settmg-out (<strong>of</strong> the m~tte~).<br />
Do not punish me, when I have not sinned, on. account <strong>of</strong> what IS saId<br />
by the informers, even should the (false) saymgs about me be m~y.<br />
Ay, I stand in such a place that if an elephant stood there, seemg<br />
(what I see) and hearing what I hear,<br />
The sides <strong>of</strong> his neck would be shaken with terror-if there be no<br />
forgiveness from the Messenger <strong>of</strong> Allah.<br />
I did not cease to cross the desert, plunging betimes into the darkness<br />
when the mantle <strong>of</strong> Night is fallen,<br />
Till I laid my right hand, not to withdraw it, in the hand <strong>of</strong> the<br />
avenger whose word is the word <strong>of</strong> truth. .<br />
For indeed he is more feared by me when I speak to hIm-and they<br />
told me I should be asked <strong>of</strong> my lineage- .,<br />
Than a lion <strong>of</strong> the jungle, one whose lair is amidst dense thIckets III the<br />
lowland <strong>of</strong> 'Aththar;<br />
I<br />
Referring to his journey to the Prophet, who had already given the order for his death.<br />
The <strong>Life</strong> <strong>of</strong> <strong>Muhammad</strong> 601<br />
He goes in the morning to feed two cubs, whose victual is human flesh<br />
rolled in the dust and torn to pieces;<br />
When he springs on his adversary, 'tis against his law that he should<br />
leave the adven~ary ere he is broken;<br />
From him the asses <strong>of</strong> the broad dale flee in affright, and men do not<br />
walk in his wadi,<br />
Albeit ever in his wadi is a trusty fer~, his armour and hardworn<br />
raiment smeared with blood-ready to be devoured.<br />
Truly the Messenger is a light whence illumination is sought-a drawn<br />
Indian sword, one <strong>of</strong> the swords <strong>of</strong> Allah<br />
Amongst a band <strong>of</strong> Kuraish, whose spokes;"an said when they pr<strong>of</strong>essed<br />
Islam in the valley <strong>of</strong> Mecca, 'Depart ye!'<br />
They departed, but no weaklings were they or shieldless in battle or<br />
without weapons and courage;<br />
They march like splendid camels and defend themselves with blows<br />
when the short black men take to flight;'<br />
Warriors with noses high and straight, clad for the fray in mail-coats<br />
<strong>of</strong> David's weaving,2<br />
Bright, ample, with pierced rings strung together like.the rings <strong>of</strong> the<br />
qaf'ii'.'<br />
They are not exultant if their spears overtake an enemy or apt to<br />
despair if they be themselves overtaken.<br />
The spear-thrust falls not but on their throats: for them there is no<br />
shrinking from the ponds <strong>of</strong> death (856).4<br />
'A~im b. 'Umar b. Qatada said: When Ka'b said, 'When the short black<br />
men take to flight/ he meant us, the An~ar, because <strong>of</strong> the way one <strong>of</strong> us<br />
had. treated hi~. He singledout the Muhiijirin among the apostle's companIOns<br />
for praIse. ThIS eXCIted the An~ar's anger against him. After he<br />
had become a Muslim he spoke in praise <strong>of</strong> the An~ar and mentioned their<br />
trials with the apostle and their position among the Yaman tribes:<br />
He who· loves a glorious life<br />
Let him ever be with the horsemen <strong>of</strong> the righteous Ansar<br />
Who transmit glorious deeds from father to son. .,<br />
The best men are they, sons <strong>of</strong> the best men<br />
Who launch with their arms spears<br />
Like long Indian swords,<br />
Who peer forward unweariedly<br />
With eyes red as burning coals.<br />
I Probably a hit at the people <strong>of</strong> Medina, some <strong>of</strong> whom had urged <strong>Muhammad</strong> to show<br />
the poet no mercy.<br />
% David is described. in the Quran (xii. 80) as a maker <strong>of</strong> coats <strong>of</strong> mail.<br />
3 Name <strong>of</strong> a plant.<br />
4. i.e. ,places where drau~hts <strong>of</strong> de,8th are drunk. By the courtesy <strong>of</strong> the Cambridge<br />
University Press I take thiS translatIOn from Translations <strong>of</strong> Eastern Poetry and Prose<br />
by myoId friend R. A. Nicholson.