Guillaume--Life of Muhammad.pdf - Radical Truth

774- The Life of Muhammad Ibn llishiim's Notes 775
806. Sufyan b. 'Uyayna mentioned that the apostle said to 'AIi, 'I give you
only that which you have lost; not that which you will cause others to lose.'
A traditionist told me that the apostle entered the temple on the day of the
occupation, and saw the figures of angels and other beings and a picture of
Abraham with divining arrows in his hand. 'God slay them,' he said, 'they
have pictured OUf shaykh as a man divining with arrows. What has Abraham
to do with such things? "Abraham was not a Je\\' nor a Christian, but h~ was a
bani!, a Muslim, and was not a polytheist'" (3. 60). Then he gave orders that
all those pictures should be erased. [Azraqi, Mecca, 1352, 104 ult., records
a tradition that the picture of Jesus and Mary was retained by the prophet.]
He also told me that the apostle and Bilal entered the Ka'ba, and when the
fanner came out Bilal remained behind. Abdullah b. 'Omar went in to him
and asked him where the apostle had prayed, but he did not ask how many
times. When Ibn 'Omarwent into the temple he walked straightforward until
there was a space of about three cubits between the wall and the door behind
him; then he would pray, making for the place· which Bilal had told him of.
He also said that when the apostle entered the Ka'ba in the year of the
conquest in company with Bihil he ordered him to call the people to prayer.
Now Abu Sufyan b. I;Iarb and 'Attab b. Asld and al-l:):arith b. Hisham were
sitting in the courtyard of the Ka'ba.