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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644 The <strong>Life</strong> <strong>of</strong> <strong>Muhammad</strong><br />
alms tax is not lawful to <strong>Muhammad</strong> or his household; it is alms to be<br />
given to the poor Muslims and the wayfarer. Miilik has brought the news<br />
and kept secret what is confidential, and larder you to treat him well.<br />
I have sent to you some <strong>of</strong>the best <strong>of</strong> my people, religious and learned men,<br />
and larder you to treat them well, for they must be respected.' Peace<br />
upon you and the mercy and blessings <strong>of</strong> God.'<br />
THE APOSTLE'S INSTRUCTIONS TO Mu'ADH WHEN HE<br />
SENT HIM TO THE YAMAN<br />
'Abdullah b. Abu Bakr told me that he was told that when the apostle sent<br />
Mu'iidh he gave him instructions and orders and then said: Deal gently<br />
and not harshly; announce good news and do not repel people. You are<br />
going to one <strong>of</strong> the people with scripture who will ask you about the key<br />
<strong>of</strong> heaven. Say to them it is the witness that there is no God but Allah,<br />
Who has no partner. Mu'iidh went <strong>of</strong>f to the Yaman and did as he was<br />
ordered and a woman came to him and said, '0 companion <strong>of</strong> God's<br />
apostle, what rights has a husband over his wife?' He said, 'Woe to you, a<br />
woman can never fulfil her husband's rights, so do your utmost to fulfil<br />
his claims as best you can.' She said, 'By God, if you are the companion<br />
<strong>of</strong> God's apostle you must know what rights a husband has over his wifel'<br />
He said, 'If you were to go back and find him with his nostrils running<br />
with pus and blood and sucked until you got rid <strong>of</strong> them you would not<br />
have fulfilled your obligation."<br />
958 FARWA B. 'AMR AL-JUDHAMY BECOMES A MUSLIM<br />
Farwa b. 'Amr b. al-Niifira al-Judhiimi <strong>of</strong> the clan <strong>of</strong> Nufiitha sent to the<br />
apostle that he had accepted Islam, and gave him a white mule. Farwa<br />
was governor for the Byzantines <strong>of</strong> the Arabs lying near the Byzantine<br />
border based on Ma'iin and the surrounding land <strong>of</strong> Syria. When the<br />
news reached the Byzantines they went after him, taught him, and imprisoned<br />
him. In his imprisonment he said:<br />
Sulayma came to my companions by night<br />
When the Romans were between the door and the water troughs.<br />
The spectre shrank away sad at what it saw,<br />
And I thought to sleep but it had made me weep.<br />
Paint not thine eye with kolzl, Salmii, after I am dead<br />
And do not approach for intercourse.<br />
You know, Abu Kubaysha, that among the great ones<br />
My tongue is not silent.<br />
I A difficult expression. Perhaps 'they are people <strong>of</strong> importance', or even 'they will be<br />
watched', i.e. to see how they fare.<br />
:I Suhayli <strong>of</strong>fers no comment.<br />
The <strong>Life</strong> <strong>of</strong> <strong>Muhammad</strong> 645<br />
If I perish you will miss your brother<br />
And if I live you will recognize my rank,<br />
For I possess the noblest qualities a man Can have'<br />
Generosity, bravery, and eloquence. .<br />
Wh~n t~e Byzantines determined to crucify him by a pool in Palestine<br />
called Afra he said:<br />
Has Salmii heard that her husband<br />
Is by the water <strong>of</strong> fAfra raised on a riding camel, I<br />
A camel whose mother no stallion e'er mounted<br />
Its branches shorn with sickles?<br />
'<br />
AI-Zuhri alleged that when they brought him to crucify him he said:<br />
Tell the chiefs <strong>of</strong> the Muslims that I<br />
Surrender to my Lord my body and my bones.<br />
Then they beheaded him and hung him up by that water. May God have<br />
mercy on hIm I<br />
THE BANU'L-I;Li.RITH ACCEPT ISLAM<br />
Then the apostle sent Khiilid b. al-Walid in the month <strong>of</strong> Rab" 'I. 'kh'<br />
orJu<br />
ma<br />
-d-'I""I-'<br />
a -u am t<br />
h<br />
e year<br />
1u " lr<br />
10 to the B. al-Hiirith b Ka'b l'n N ' - d<br />
d d h' " "aJran, an 959<br />
or ere 1m to mVlte them to Islam three days before he attacked th<br />
If they accepted then he was to accept it from them ;' and if they decli~~d<br />
~e was to fight them. So Khiilid set out and came to them and sent out<br />
nders m all dlrections inviting the people to Islam saYl'ng :If<br />
I I '11 b ' ' ,you accept<br />
5 a~ you WI .e safe, so the men accepted Islam as they were invited<br />
Khiihd stayed ,wah them teaching them Islam and the book <strong>of</strong> God and<br />
the sunna ~f H,S prophet, for that was what the apostle <strong>of</strong> God had ordered<br />
him to do If t,hey accepted Islam and did not fight.'<br />
Th~n Khiihd wrote to the apostle: In the name <strong>of</strong> God th '<br />
ate th 'f I T M h e compasslOn-<br />
'_ , e merCI u ._ a u ammad the prophet the apostle <strong>of</strong> God. From<br />
Khahd b. al-Wahd. Peace be upon you 0 apostle <strong>of</strong> God and G d'<br />
mercy and b_Iessings. I praise God the oniy God unto you, Y~u sent m~ t~<br />
the B. al-l:Ianth b. Ka b and ordered me when I came to them not t<br />
fight them for three days and to invite them to Islam' and if th t dO<br />
it to 8t . h h d ,eyaccep e<br />
. . .ay WIt t em, an to accept it from them and teach them the<br />
mSlltutlOns <strong>of</strong> Islam, the book <strong>of</strong> God, and the sunna <strong>of</strong> His prophet.<br />
: The follOWing line makes the point clear.<br />
After these words T has 'And sta with th d<br />
SUnna <strong>of</strong> the prophet and" the institutio~s <strong>of</strong> Isla~ a~t lte~h th;mhthe book <strong>of</strong> God and the<br />
<strong>of</strong> I.H,'s recension (unless he deliberately . d h 00 s a~ 1 t ese words had fallen out<br />
beginning 'for that' which T omits Cle I exclse r t em. an that he wrote in the clause<br />
h<br />
T d<br />
." ar y one 0 t em IS redundant and th "<br />
. rea s more smoothly, The words 'to stay with them;' KhTd' I' e ,passage In<br />
not by W. In a 1 setter are gIVen by C.,