Guillaume--Life of Muhammad.pdf - Radical Truth

206
144 The Life of Muhammad
part of the day and throw him on his back in the ope~ ;alleyand have a
great rock put on his chest; then he would say to hIm, r au wIll stay here
till you die or deny Muhammad and \\'orship AI-Lat and al-'Uzza.' He
used to say while he was enduring this, 'On~, one!' .
Hisham b. 'Urwa told me on the authonty of hIS father: Waraga b.
Naufal was passing him while he was being thus tortured and saywg,
'One, one,' and he said, 'One, one, by God, Bilal.' The~ he went ,to
Umayya and those of B. Jumal). \vho ~ad t,hus maltre,atcd hIm, ,and saId,
'I swear by God that if you kill him m thIS way I wIll make hiS tomb a
h · 'One day Abu Bakr passed by while they were thus Ill-treatmg
s nne.
'H
him, for his house was among this clan. He s~id to .Umayya, a;c ,you
no fear of God that you treat this poor fellow lIke this? How long IS It to
go on?' He replied, 'You arc the one who corrupted him, so save hIm from
his plight that you see.' 'I will do so,' said Abu Bakr; 'I have got a black
slave, tougher and stronger than he, who IS a heathen. I wIll cxchan.ge hIm
for Bilal.' The transaction was carried out, and Abu Bakr took lum and
freed him. . . .
Before he migrated to Medina he freed six slaves in Islam, BIlaI bemg the
seventh, namely: 'Amir b. Fuhayra, who \vas pr~sent ,a: Badr and :UD~d
and was killed at the battle of Bi'r Ma'una; and Dmm l'}bays and Zmmra
(she lost her sight when he freed her and Qurays,h said, 'Al-Lat ,and al­
'Uzzii arc the ones that have taken away her sIght; but she said, By the
house of God, you lie. AI-Lat and al-'Uzza can neither harm nor heal,'
so God restored her sight).
And he freed al-Nahdiya and her daughter who belonged to a woman of
B.