Guillaume--Life of Muhammad.pdf - Radical Truth

145
The Li'e 01 Muhammad
100 ':1' .
Zayd not one ofyou follows the religion of Abraham but 1.' ~hen he sa~d:
'0 G~d if I knew how you wished to be worshipped I wou s~or: ~p
you; bu't I do not know.' Then he prostrated himself on the pa 0 IS
h"';~~s told that his son, Said b. Z~yd, and 'Umar :-;~d~ha;r':~nw~~
was his nephew, saId to the apostle, Ought we :0 as p
Zayd b. 'Amr?' He replied, 'Yes, for ~e will be raIsed from the dead as the
Ie representative of a whole people. . h'
so Zayd b. 'Amr. b. Nufayl composed the following poem about leavmg IS
people and the treatment he received from them:
Am I to worship one lord or a thousand?
If there are as many as you claim,
I renounce al-L.t and al-'Uzz, both of them
As any strong-minded person would.
I will not worship aI_rUzza and her two d~u7hters,
Nor will I visit the two images of the Banu Amr.
I will not worship Hubal' though he was our lord
In the days when I had little sense..
I wondered (for in the night much.. strange
Which in daylight is plain to the dlscermng),
That God had annihilated many men
Whose deeds were thoroughly evil
And spared others through the piety of a people
So that alittle child could grow to manhood.
A man may languish for a time and then recover
As the branch of a tree revives after ram.
I serve my "Lord the compassionate .
That the forgiving Lord may pardon my sm,
So keep to the fear of God your Lord; .
While you hold to that you will not pensh.
You will see the pious living i~ garde~s,
While for the infidels hell fire IS burnmg.
Shamed in life, when they die
Their breasts will contract in anguish.
Zayd also said: (143)
To God I give my praise and thanksgiving,
A sure word that will not fail as long as tIme lasts, .
. To the heavenly King-there is no God beyond HIm
And no lord can draw near to Him.
Beware, 0 men, of what follows death!
You can hide nothing from God.
1 This is the reading of al-Kalbi, but all MSS. have Ghanrn, a deity unknown.
Yiq. iii. 665. 8.
Cf. also
The Life of l11uhammad 101
Beware of putting another beside God,
For the upright way has become clear.
Mercy I implore, others trust in the jinn,
But thou, my God, art our Lord and our hope.
I am satisfied with thee, 0 God, as a Lord,
And will not worship another God beside thee.
Thou of thy goodness and mercy
Didst send a messenger to Moses as a herald.
Thou saidst to him, Go thou and Aaron,
And summon Pharaoh the tyrant to turn to God
And say to him, 'Did you spread out this (earth) without a support,
Until it stood fast as it does?'
Say to him 'Did you raise this (heaven) without support?
What a fine builder then you were!'
Say to him, 'Did you set the moon in the middle thereof
As a light to guide when night covered it?'
Say to him, 'Who sent forth the sun by day
So that the earth it touched reflected its splendourl'
Say to him, 'Who planted seeds in the dust
That herbage might grow and wax great?
And brought forth its seeds in the head of the plant l'
Therein are signs for the understanding.
Thou in thy kindness did deliver Jonah
Who spent nights in the belly of the fish.
Though I glorify thy name, I often repeat
'0 Lord forgive my sins. 'I
o Lord of creatures, bestow thy gifts and mercy upon me
And bless my sons and property.
Zayd b. 'Amr in reproaching his wife $afiya, d. al-I;la