Guillaume--Life of Muhammad.pdf - Radical Truth

The Life of Muhammad
worlds. I have sent to you my son Arha. I have control only over myself
and if you wish me to come to you, 0 apostle of God, I wiU do so. I bear
witness that what you say is true'.
I was told that the Negus sent his son with sixty Abyssinians by boat.
and when they were in the middle of the sea the boat foundered and they
aU perished.)'
T.1572 (To via Salama. From 'AbduUah b. Abu Bakr from al-Zuhri from Abu
Salama from 'Abdu'l-Ral,lman b. 'Auf. 'AbduUah b. I;!udhafa brought the
apostle's letter to Chosroes and when he had read it he tore it up. \"'hen
the apostle heard that he had torn his letter up he said, 'His kingdom will
be torn in pieces.')
(T. via Yazid b. Abu I;!abib. Then Chosroes wrote to Badhan, who was
governor of the Yarnan, 'Send two stout fellows to this man in the Hijaz
and tell them to bring him to me.' So Badhan sent his steward Babawayh
T· 1573 who was a skilled scribe with a Persian eaUed Kharkhasrah to carry a
letter to the apostle ordering him to go with them to Chosroes. He told
Babawayh to go to this man's country and speak to him and then come back
and report. When they got as far as al-Ta'if they found some men of
Quraysh in (wadi) Nakhb and inquired about him. They told them tbat he
was in Medina. They rejoiced at meeting these men, saying, 'This is
good news, for Chosroes king of kings is moved against the man and you
wiU be rid of him.'
The two men came to the apostle and Babawayh told him that Shiihanshah
king of kings Chosroes had written to the governor 2 Badhan ordering
him to send men to bring him to him and that they had been sent to take
him away. If he obeyed, Badhan would write to the king of kings on his
behalf and keep him from him; but if he refused to come he knew what
sort of man he was: he would destroy his people and lay waste his country.
They had come in to the apostle's presence with shaven beards and long
moustaches, so that he could not bear to look at them. He advanced on
them and said, 'Who ordered you to do this?' To which they replied,
'Our Lord' meaning Chosroes. The apostle answered, 'But my Lord
has ordered me to let my beard grow long and to cut my moustache.'
Then he told them to come back in the morning.
News came from heaven to the apostle to the effect that God had given
Shirawayh power over his father Chosroes and he had killed him on a
T· 1574 certain night of a certain month at a certain hour. Thereupon he summoned
them and told them. They said: 'Do you know what you are saying?
We can take revenge on you. What is easier? Shall we write this as from
you and teU the king of it?' He said, 'Yes, teU him that from me and teU
him that my religion and my sovereignty will reach limits which the king-
I It will be seen that there is no isntid for this tradition. I.H. has dealt with it in his
summary to this section, I have omitted T. 1574.. 4-I575. 5 because it is unintelligible
without the preceding story from Yazid b. Abu I;:labib which evidently ran parallel wi.th
what 1.1. had said.
2 malik.
The LIfe of Muhammad
dom of Chosroes never attained. Sa ~ to him " " 659
you what you already hold and y '. If you submIt I will give
y " , appomt you kmg over Y I .
a~an. Then he gave Kharkhasrah a irdl . . Our peap e In the
whIch one of the kings had '. h' g e contaInIng gold and silver
gIven 1m.
They left him and came to Wdhis
not the speech of a king I a an a~d. report~d. He exclaimed, 'This
W 'Il . n my 0pllllOn he Is a h
e \Vl see \vhat happens. If what he said is t prop et as he says.
has been sent by God; if it is not w rue ~hen he IS a prophet who
Hardly had he finished speaking \vh e t~ust consHler the matter further.'
saying that he had killed Ch ebn ere Came a letter from Shirawayh
b k'lr osroes ecause he had d h
Y I lllg their nobles and keep' th angere t e Persians
that his men pledged their obedlllg emho n the frontiers. He must see
b
lenCe to t e new king H .
man a out \vhom Chos roes h d . b . e must sec the
lint!
'1 f
urther instructions came.
a wntten
'
ut not p
rovo
k
e
h'
1m to war
When Badhan received this letter h 'd 'W'
apostle,' and he became a Musr e s~~d' h lthout doubt this man is an
Yaman. 1m as I t e Persians with him in the T. 1575
The men of I;!imyar used to caU Kharkh h' _, .,.
of the g,irdl~ which the apostle gave him b a~ra ~)~u I-~~1 Jaza' b:cause
tongue IS mz'J'a""a To thO d h' ,ecause girdle m the :tIlmyari
, _ '" . IS ay IS Sons keep th . k _
saId to Badhan 'I never spok t f e nlC name, Babawayh
'B- - " e a a man or whom I f It
awe. adhan mquired 'Did hehI' , . e morc respectful
, aveanypo lcewlthhrm?' He answered No.
A SUMMARY OF THE APOSTLE'S FIGHTS
The apostle took part personally in twenty-seven (T.
SiX)I raids:
Waddan which was the raid of al-Ab .-'
B -t' h wa.
uwa. In t e direction of Radwa
'Ushayra in the valley of Yan'bu"
Th fi .
Therst fight at Badr in pursuit of Kurz b. Jabir.
e great battle of Badr in whi h G d I
and their nobles and eaptured c 0) s ew the chiefs of Quraysh (T.
B -Sl many.
anu ~ aym until he reached al-Kudr.
AI-Sawlq III pursuit of Abu Sufyan b 973
Qarqara al-Kudr).
. I;!arb (T. until he reached
Ghatafan (T tow d N 'd) h' .
B
'- . .' ar s aJ ,w lch IS the raid of Dh - ,
al.1ran, a mme in the H";- ('f b U '.'"1..marr.
UlJud. .IJaz .' a Ove al-Furu').
I;!amra'u'l-Asad.
Banu J\Tadfr.
Dhatu'l-Riqa' of Nakh!.
The last battle of Badr.
Dumatu'l_Janda!.
I
1.1. has counted the pilgrimage as a r 'd
".