Guillaume--Life of Muhammad.pdf - Radical Truth

52 The Life of Muhammad
79 hermaphrodite. Am I to make him a man or a woman I' By God I do not
know what to do and I can see no way out.' She said, 'Good God, merely
follow the course of the urinatory process.' 'Be as late as you please henceforth
Sukhayla' you have solved my problem,' said he. Then in the morning
he went ou~ to the people and gave his decision in the way she had
indicated.
HOW QU~AYY B.
KILAB GAINED POWER IN MECCA;
HOW HE UNITED QURAYSH AND THE HELP WHICH
QUJ;>A'A GAVE HIM
In that year f?ufa behaved as they were accustomed. The Arabs had bor~e
them patiently since they felt it a duty in the time of Jurhum and Khu2a a
when they were in authority. Qu!?ayy came to them wl~h hl~ tnbesmen
from Quraysh and Kinana and Qurja'a at al-'Aqaba saymg, We hav~ a
better right to this authority than you.' (T. They dIsputed one. wI:h
another and they tried to kill him.) Severe .fightmg followed resultmg 10
the defeat of f?ufa, and Qu~ayy assumed theIr authonty. .
Thereupon Khu2a'a and B. Bakr withdrew from .ou~ayy knowmg that
he would impose the same restrictions on them as $ufa had done and that
he would come between them and the Ka'ba and the rule of Me~ca. When
they had withdrawn, Qu~ayyshowed his host~lity ~nd gathered hIS forces_:o
fight them. (T. His brother RizaJ:1 b. Rabi a wIth hIS men from Qurja a
stood with hi~.) Khuzii'a and B. Bakr came out against him and a sev~re
battle took place in the valley of Mecca and both parties suffered heavtly.
Thereupon they agreed to make peace and that one of the Arabs should
arbitrate between them. They appointed as umpire ya'mar b: 'Auf ,b.
Ka'b b. 'Amir b. Layth b. Bakr b. 'Abdu Manat b. Kmana. HIS verdlet
was that Qu~ayy had a better claim to the Ka'ba and to rule Mecca than
Khuza'a and that all blood shed by Qu~ayy was to be cancelled and com-
80 pensation disregarded, but Khuza'a and B. Bakr must pay bloodwlt for the
men of Quraysh, Kinana, and Qurja'a whom they had kIlled a~d that
Qusayy should be given a free hand with (he Ka'ba and Mecca. Ya mar b.
'A';f was immediately called al-Shaddakh because he had cancelled the
claim to bloodwit and remitted it (10 4)'
Thus Qu~ayy gained authority over the temple and Mecca and brought
in his people from their dwellings to Mecca. He behaved as a king over
his tribe and the people of Mecca, and so they made hIm klllg; but he
had guaranteed to the Arabs their customary rights because he felt
that it was a duty upon himself which he had not the nght to alter. Thus
he confirmed the family of f;)afwan and 'Adwan and the mtercalators ~nd
Murra b. 'Auf in their customary rights which obtamed unttl the comlllg
of Islam when God put an end thereby to them all. Qu~ayy was the first of
1 The point was important because a male received double as much as a female.
The Life of Muhammad 53
B. Ka'b b. Lu'ayy to assume kingship and to be obeyed by his people as
king. He held the keys of the temple, the right to water the pilgrims from
the well of Zarnzam, to feed the pilgrims, to preside at assemblies, and to
hand out the war banners. In his hands lay all the dignities of Mecca; he
divided the town into quarters among his people and he settled all the
Quraysh into their houses in Mecca which they held.
People assert that the Quraysh were afraid to cut down the trees of the
sanctuary in their quarters, but Qu!?ayy cut them down with his own hand
or through his assistants. Quraysh called him the 'uniter' because he had
brought them together and they drew a happy omen from his rule. So far
as Q~raysh wt:Te concerned no woman was given in marriage, no man
marrIed, no discussion about public affairs was held, and no banner
of war was entrusted to anyone except in his house, where one of his sons
would hand it over. When a girl reached marriageable age she had to come
to his house to put on her shift. The shift was split over her head in his
house, then she put it on and was taken away to her people.I His authority
among the Quraysh during his life and after his death was like a religious
law which could not be infringed. He chose for himself the house of meeting
and made a door which led to the mosque of the Ka'ba; in it the
Ouraysh used to settle their affairs (105)'
'Abdu'l-Malik b. Rashid told me that his father said that he heard al­
Sa'ib b. Khabbab, author of al-Maqfiira, reporting that he heard a man 81
telling 'Umar b. al-Khallab when he was caliph the story of Qu~ayy, how
he united .Quraysh and expelled Khuza'a and B. Bakr from Mecca, and
how he gamed control of the temple and the affairs of Mecca. Umar made
no attempt to gainsay him. (To Qu~ayy's authority in Mecca, where he
enjO-yed great esteem, remained uncontested. He left the pilgrimage un~
changed because he deemed it a religious taboo. The Sufa continued,
until they were cut off, in the family of f?afwan b. al-I;Iarith b. Shijna by
right of inheritance. 'Adwan, the Nas'a of B. Malik b. Kinana, and Murra
b. 'Auf continued as before until Islam came and God destroyed all these
offices.)
When Qu~ayy's war was over his brother Riza\t b. Rabi'a went away to
his own land with his countrymen. Concerning his response to Qu~ayy he
composed the following poem:
When a messenger came from Qu~ayy
And said 'Respond to your friend's request,'
We sprang to his aid leading our horses,
Casting from us the half-hearted and slow-moving.
We rode all night until the dawn
Hiding ourselves by day lest we should be attacked.
Our steeds were swift as grouse hurrying to water
Bringing our answer to the call of Qu~ayy.
I The dir< was 8 large piece of cloth. Normally a woman cuts an opening through which
ahe can put her head. She then adds sleeves and sews up the two sides.