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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18z<br />
'30 The <strong>Life</strong> <strong>of</strong> <strong>Muhammad</strong><br />
Rise and pray to your Lord and rub yourselves<br />
Against the comers <strong>of</strong> this house between the mountains.<br />
He gave you a convincing test l<br />
On the day <strong>of</strong> Abu Yaksum, leader <strong>of</strong> the squadrons,<br />
His cavalry was in the plains,<br />
His infantry upon the passes <strong>of</strong> the hills.<br />
When the help <strong>of</strong> the Lord <strong>of</strong> the throne reached you. .<br />
His armies repulsed them, pelting them, and covenng them wIth<br />
dust;<br />
Quickly they turned tail in flight<br />
And none but a few returned to his people from the army.<br />
If you perish, we shall perish, and the fairs by which men live.<br />
These are the words <strong>of</strong> a truthful man (176).<br />
Ijakim b. Umayya b.Ijaritha b. al-Auq"" al-Sulami,an ally<strong>of</strong>B. Umayya<br />
who had become a Muslim, composed the following verses to turn hIS<br />
people from their determined enmity to the apostle. He was a man <strong>of</strong><br />
good birth and authority.<br />
Does one who says what is right stick to it,<br />
And is there one lilltening who would be angry at the truth 1<br />
Does the chief whose tribe hope to pr<strong>of</strong>it from him<br />
Gather friends from near and far 1<br />
I disown all but Him who controls the wind<br />
And I abandon you for ever.<br />
I submit myself utterly to God<br />
Though friends threaten me with terror.<br />
The <strong>Life</strong> <strong>of</strong> <strong>Muhammad</strong> 13 1<br />
mode <strong>of</strong> life foolish, insulted their forefathers, reviled their religion,<br />
divided the community, and cursed their gods. What they had borne Was<br />
past all bearing, or words to that effect.'<br />
While they were thus discussing him the apostle came towards them and<br />
kissed the black stone, then he passed them as he walked round the temple.<br />
As he passed they said some injurious things about him. This I coald see<br />
from his expression. He went on and as he passed them the second time<br />
they attacked him similarly. This I could see from his expression. Then<br />
he passed the third time, and they did the same. He stopped and said,<br />
'Will you listen to me 0 Qurayshl By him who holds my life in His hand<br />
I bring you slaughter. >I This word so struck the people that not one <strong>of</strong><br />
them but stood silent and still; even one who had hitherto been most<br />
violent spoke to him in the kindest way possible, saying, 'Depart, 0 Abu'l<br />
Qiisim, for by God you are not violent.' So the apostle went away, and on<br />
the morrow they assembled in the Ijijr, I being there too, and they asked<br />
one another if they remembered what had taken place between them and<br />
the apostle so that when he openly said something unpleasant they let him<br />
alone. While they were talking thus the apostle appeared, and they leaped<br />
upon him as one man and encircled him, saying, I Are you the one who said<br />
so-and·so against our gods and OUf religion?' The apostle said, 'Yes, I am<br />
the one who said that.' And I saw one <strong>of</strong> them seize his robe. Then Abu<br />
Bakr interposed himself weeping and saying, 'Would you kill a man for<br />
saying Allah is my Lord I' Then they left him. That is the worst that I<br />
ever saw Quraysh do to him.<br />
One <strong>of</strong> the family <strong>of</strong> Umm Kulthum, Abu Bakr's daughter, told me that<br />
she said, 'Abu Bakr returned that day with the hair <strong>of</strong> his head torn. He<br />
was a very hairy man and they had dragged him along by his beard' (177).<br />
HOW THE APOSTLE WAS TREATED BY HIS OWN PEOPLE<br />
When the Quraysh became distressed by the trouble caused by the enmity<br />
between them lUld the apostle and those <strong>of</strong> their people who accepted .his<br />
teaching, they stirred up against him foolish men who calle? h,m a har,<br />
insulted him and accused him <strong>of</strong> being a poet, a sorcerer, a dlvmer, and <strong>of</strong><br />
being posses~ed. However, the apos:le cont~ued to pr~c!aim w~at. G.od<br />
had ordered him to proclaim, conceahng not~mg, and excltmgtheir dlshke<br />
by contemning their religion, forsaking their idols, and leavmg them to<br />
their unbelief.<br />
Yahya b. 'Urwa b. al-Zubayr on the authority <strong>of</strong> his father from 'Abdullah<br />
b: 'Amr b. al-'~ told me that the latter was asked what was the worst<br />
way in which Quraysh showed their enmity to the apostle. He ~~plied: 'I<br />
was with them one day when the notables had gathered m the IjIJr and ~he<br />
apostle was mentioned. They said that they had never known anything<br />
like the trouble they had endured from this fellow; he had declared their<br />
I<br />
For this and the following lines, except the last, see p. 39 <strong>of</strong> the Arabic text.<br />
ij:AMZA ACCEPTS ISLAM<br />
A man <strong>of</strong> Aslum, who had a good memory, told me that Abu Jabl passed<br />
by the apostle at al-$afa, insulted him and beltaved most <strong>of</strong>fensively, speaking<br />
spitefully <strong>of</strong> his religion and trying to bring him into disrepute. The<br />
apostle did not speak to him. Now a freedwoman, belonging to 'Abdullah<br />
b. Jud'an b. 'Amr b. Ka'b b. Sa'd b. Taym b. Murra, was in her house<br />
listening to what went on. When he went away he betook himself to the<br />
assembly <strong>of</strong> Quraysh at the Ka'ba and sat there. Within a little while<br />
Ijamza b. 'Abdu'I-Mullalib arrived, with his bow hanging from his shoulder,<br />
returning from the chase, for he was fond <strong>of</strong> hunting and used to go out<br />
shooting. When he came back from a hunt he never went home until he<br />
had circumambulated the Ka'ba, and that done when he passed by an 185<br />
assembly <strong>of</strong> the Quraysh he stopped and saluted and talked with them. He<br />
Was the strongest man <strong>of</strong> Quraysh, and the most unyielding. The apostle<br />
I<br />
Dhabb-.