Guillaume--Life of Muhammad.pdf - Radical Truth

The LIfe of Muhammad
say when he described the apostle: 'He was neither too tall nor unduly short
but of nonnal height; his hair was not too curly nor lank, but definitely curly;
his face was not fat nor rounded; it was white tinged with red; his eyes were
black, fringed with long lashes; he was firmly knit and broad shouldered;
the hair on his body was fine, thick on hands and feet. When he walked he
picked his feet up smartly as though he were going down hill, when he
turned he turned his whole body~ between his shoulders was the seal of
prophecy, he being the seal of the prophets., He was the most generous of
men, the boldest, most veracious, most faithful to his undertaking; the
gentlest, with easy manners, the noblest in social intercourse. Those who
saw him for the first time were overcome with awe; those who knew him
well loved him. Neither before nor after him have 1 seen his like. God bless
and preserve him!'
222. Add 1. Su'ayd b. Sahm.
223. 1 have omitted a verse which is obscene.
224. Abu 'Ubayda told me that the woman who stood up in defence of
J)irar was Umrn Jamil; and since others say it was Umrn Ghaylan, it may
well be that both played their part with the other women who were there.
When 'Umar came to power Umrn Jamil came to him, for she thought that
he was his brother and when her genealogy had been given he knew her
story and said to her, '1 am not his brother except in Islam. He is now on
active service. I know how much he owes you.' So he made her a gift as
though she were a traveller. The narrator says: I.H. said, J)irar had met
'Umar at the battle of Badr when he began to beat him with the flat of his
sword saying, 'Be off with you,!. al-Khattab, I will not kill you!' 'Umar
remembered this in his favour after he had become a Muslim. [This is a
passage which W. relegated to his critical notes, hut C. prints it without
comment. The expression 'The narrator (rawi) said' is unique in the SiTa
and therefore to be suspectedj On the other hand, the story rings true.]
225. 'Abid b. al-Abras said:
News came to me from Tamlm that they
Were indignant and wrathful at the slain of 'Amir.
See Diwan of Abid, ed. Sir Charles Lyall, 1913, p. 16. Considerable uncertainty
about the word dha'ira prevails. [Commentators, ancient and
modern, differ. The reading of the Diwan andT. tagharjrjabil seems preferable
to C.'s ta'aHabil.] W. has ta~'a'abi1, 'found it hard to bear'.
226. Rabi'a b. 'Abbad is the correct form.
227. Al-Nabigha said:
As though you were a camel of the Banu Uqaysh
With an old ,kin rattling behind your legs
(to scare it into movement).
22~. ,Fira, b. 'Abdullah b. Salama b. Qushayr b. Ka'b b. Rab!'s b. 'Amir b,
Sa ~a a.
Ibn Hishiim's Notes 7 2 7
229· Afra' was d. 'Ubayd b. Thalaba b. Ghanm b. Malik b. aI-Najjar.
230. Others say '.Amir b. al~Azraq.
231, 'Amr was Ibn Sawad. He had no son called Ghanm.
232. Dhakwan was an emigrant and a helper.
233· T~ey were called Qawaqil because '\vhenever anyone asked for their
prote~tlO~ they ~sed to say as they handed him an arrow, '\\Talk where
you ltke m'Yathnb with it.' Qauqala means a way of walking.
234· Tayyihan can be spelt Tayhan like mayyit and mayt.
235· Zafar's name was Ka'b b. al-J:Iarith b. al-Khazraj b. 'Amr b. Malik
h. al-Aus.
236. The two verses beginning 'were it not' and the last line were quoted
to me by a man of the An:;;ar or a man of Khuza'a.
237· 'Aun b. Ayyub al-An:;;ari said:
To ~s belongs the man who was the first to pray
Facmg the RaDman's Ka'ba betvleen the sacred sites.
meaning al-Bara' b. l\1a'rur.
~38. Hadm can be read hadam, meaning sanctity; i.e. what is sacred to you
IS sacred to me and your 'blood' is my blood.
239· He was Ghanm b. 'Auf, brolher of Salim b. 'Auf b. 'Amr b. 'Auf.
240. Though some say the last name should be b. Khunays.
241. The le~rned number among them Abu'l-Haytham b. al-Ta 'vahan b
they do not mclude Rifa'a. ). ,ut
Ka'b b. Malik mentions them in the poem which Abu Zayd al-An~ari
quoted to me:
I
Tell Ubayy that his opinion was false.
He died on the morning of the gully I and death is inevitable.
:May God refuse what your soul desires.
He Sees and hears as He watches the affairs of men.
Tell Abu Sufyan that there appeared to us
A shining light of God's guidance in Ahmad.
Don't be too eager in gathering what v~u want
But gather whatever vou can . ,
Beware! Know that "\~hen th~ tribe gave their allegianc;e2
They refused to allow you to break our covenant.
Both aI-Bad' and Ibn 'Amr refused
As did also As'ad and Rafi'. '
Sa'd al-Sa'idi refused and Mundhir
\Vould cut off your nose if you attempted it.
i.e. where fealty was sworn' v s
wo 2 rd?r, 'when they followed o~e·;fter the other'.
This is one of the forger's favourite