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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133<br />
92 The <strong>Life</strong> <strong>of</strong> <strong>Muhammad</strong><br />
When the Quraysh heard <strong>of</strong> this they asked what he meant.<br />
came to her another night and chirped beneath her saymg,<br />
Death, what is death?<br />
In it bones are throvm here and there. I<br />
The spirit<br />
When Quraysh heard <strong>of</strong> this they could not understand it and decided to<br />
wait until the future should reveal its meaning. When the battle <strong>of</strong> Badr<br />
and U\lUd took place in a glen, they knew that this was the meaning <strong>of</strong> the<br />
spirit's message (136).<br />
'Ali b. Nafi' al-Jurashi told me that Janb, a tribe from the Yaman, had a<br />
soothsayer in the time <strong>of</strong> ignorance, and when the news <strong>of</strong> the apostle <strong>of</strong><br />
God was blazed abroad among the Arabs, they said to him, 'Look into t~e<br />
matter <strong>of</strong> this man for us', and they gathered at the bottom <strong>of</strong> the mountam<br />
where he lived. He came dovm to them when the sun rose and stood leaning<br />
on his bow. He raised his head toward heaven for a long time and<br />
began to leap about and say:<br />
o men, God has honoured and chosen l\1uhammad,<br />
Purified his heart and bowels.<br />
His stay among you, 0 men, will be short.<br />
Then he turned and climbed up the mountain whence he had come.<br />
A person beyond suspicion told me on the authority <strong>of</strong> 'Ab~ullah b.<br />
Ka'b a freedman <strong>of</strong> 'Uthman b. 'Affan tbat he was told that when Umar b.<br />
al-Khagab was sitting with the people i~ the ap~stl:'s l~osque, ~n ~rab<br />
came in to visit him. When 'Umar saw hIm he said, ThIS fellow IS stIll a<br />
polytheist, he has not given up his old religion yet, (or, he said), he was a<br />
soothsayer in the time <strong>of</strong> ignorance.' The man greeted hIm and sat do,,:,n<br />
and 'Omar asked him if he was a lVluslim; he said that he was. He saId,<br />
'But were you a soothsayer in the time <strong>of</strong> ignorance?' r~he man replied,<br />
'Good God, commander <strong>of</strong> the faithful, you have thought !II <strong>of</strong>me and have<br />
greeted me in a way that 1 never heard you speak to anyone <strong>of</strong> your subjects<br />
since you came into power.' 'Umar said, 'I ask God's pardon. In the<br />
I This ominous oracle can vie with any oracle from Delphi in obscurity. We can render,<br />
'Glens what are glens?', and this, as the sequel shows, is the way Ibn Isl)iiq understo.od :he<br />
enigma when the hattles <strong>of</strong> Badr and .Ul)ud took place in gle.ns, But such a translatlO.~ If?<br />
nores the fact that the antecedent jfhl (not fihd) must be a sillg~Jlar, and no ,form shu ub IS<br />
known in the singular. This translation carries with it the necessity <strong>of</strong> rendenng ~he follow~<br />
ing line thus, '\\-'herein Ka'b is lying prostrate', and commentators are ~.m~mmous that<br />
'Ka'b' refers to the tribe <strong>of</strong> Ka'b b. Lu'a)')', who provided most <strong>of</strong> the slam Hl the ~attlt$<br />
<strong>of</strong> Badr and Uhud and so were found 'Thrown on their sides'. (1 can find no authon~y ~or<br />
translating ha'b by 'heels'-Fersen-as do vVeil and G. Holscher, Die Pr<strong>of</strong>eten, Lelp~lg.<br />
J914, p, 88, 'Ankle' in the singular is the meaning, and this can hardly be n?"ht,) In v~~~<br />
<strong>of</strong> the pro<strong>of</strong> text cited by Lane, 26r6b, where shu'b (people) and Ka'b (the tnbe~ an~ ki ab<br />
(bones used as dice like our knuckle bones) are all found in a single couplet,.I a~l IIlchne,d to<br />
think that the oracle is still further complicated and that a possible translatIOn IS that gl~'~n<br />
above. This, at any rate, has the merit <strong>of</strong> correct syntax since it requires. us to read sha ub.<br />
The selection <strong>of</strong> a word susceptible <strong>of</strong> so many meanings which contams the name <strong>of</strong> a<br />
well-known tribe provides an excellent example <strong>of</strong> oracular prophec?"<br />
The <strong>Life</strong> <strong>of</strong> <strong>Muhammad</strong> 93<br />
time <strong>of</strong> ignorance we did worse than this; we worshipped idols and images<br />
until God honoured us 'with his apostle and' with Islam.' The mao<br />
replied, 'Yes, by God, 1 was a soothsayer.' 'Omar said, 'Then tell me what<br />
(T. was the most amazing thing) your familiar spirit communicated to<br />
you.' He said, 'He came to me a month or so before Islam and said:<br />
Have you considered the jinn and their confusion,<br />
Their religion a despair and a delusion,<br />
Clinging to their camels' saddle cloths in pr<strong>of</strong>usion?' (137)'<br />
'Abdullah b. Ka'b said, Thereupon 'Umar said, 'I was staoding by an<br />
idol with a number <strong>of</strong> the Quraysh in the time <strong>of</strong> ignoraoce when ao Arab<br />
sacrificed a calf. vVe were standing by expecting to get a part <strong>of</strong> it, when I<br />
heard a voice more penetrating than I have ever heard coming out <strong>of</strong> the<br />
belly <strong>of</strong> the calf (this was a month or so before Islam), saying:<br />
o blood red one,<br />
The deed is done,<br />
A man will cry<br />
Beside God none.' ('38)<br />
Such is what I have been told about soothsayers among the Arabs. 1<br />
THE JEWISH WARNING ABOUT THE APOSTLE OF GOD<br />
tA.~im b. 'Umar b. Qatada told me that some <strong>of</strong> his tribesmen said: '''Vhat<br />
induced us to accept Islam, apart from God's mercy and guidance, was<br />
what we used to hear the Jews say. We were polytheists worshipping<br />
idols, while they were people <strong>of</strong> the scriptures with knowledge which we<br />
did not possess. There was continual enmity between us, and when we got<br />
the better <strong>of</strong> them and excited their hate, they said l "The time <strong>of</strong> a prophet<br />
who is to be sent has now come. We will kill you with his aid as '.Ad aod<br />
Iram perished.'" We <strong>of</strong>ten used to hear them say this. When God sent<br />
His apostle we accepted him when he called us to God and we realized<br />
what their threat meant and joined him before them. vVe believed in him<br />
but they denied him. Concerning us and them, God revealed the verse in<br />
the chapter <strong>of</strong> the Cow: "And when a book from God came to them confirming<br />
what they already had (and they were formerly asking for victory<br />
over the unbelievers), \vhen what they knew came to them, they disbelieved<br />
it. The curse <strong>of</strong> God is on the unbelievers.'" (139)3<br />
f;3alil; b. Ibrahim b. 'Abdu'l-Ral;man b. 'Auf from Mal;mud b. Labid,<br />
brother <strong>of</strong> B. 'Abdu'l-Ashhal, from Salama b. Salama b. Waqsh (Salama 135<br />
was present at Badr) said: 'We had a Jewish neighbour among B. 'Abdu'l<br />
Ashhal, who came out to us one day from his house. (At that time I was the<br />
J A much longer account is given by S. 135-4-0.<br />
2 If this report is true it indicat;..s that the Messianic hope was still alive among the<br />
Arabian Jews. 3 Sura 2. 83.<br />
• • . .• Not in T 114-5.<br />
134