Futuhusham_-_The_Islamic_Conquest_of_Syria_-_Al_Waqidi

Futiihushdm
Shurahbil ~ flung the cross and confronted Thomas. When he saw the cross lying on
the ground, he and his companions shrieked terrifyingly. When Aban's ~ widow saw
Allah's enemy, Thomas, attacking Shurahbil ~ she asked, "Who is that?"
Someone said, "He is Caesar's son-in-law, your husband's killer."
When she heard that, she attacked fiercely until she got near enough to Thomas to
shoot an arrow at him. The Romans threatened her, but she never turned to them until
she had him in her target saying, "In name of Allah and through the blessings of
Rasulullah ~."
Thomas was reaching out to Shurahbil ~ when her arrow struck him square in the
right eye and stuck there. He fled screaming, while she tried to get another shot at
him. The Romans tried to avoid their misfortune and rushed to her, so a group of
Muslims ran to defend her. When she was safe, she started firing again, hitting a
Christian in the chest who fell to the ground.
The first to flee that day was Thomas, shrieking all the way to the gate due to the
intense pain caused by the arrow. Shurahbil ~ called out, "Be destroyed! Catch the
Roman dog. Attack the dogs to catch the enemy of Allah."
So they attacked until they drove the Romans back to the gate where the people
defended them with arrows and stones. The Muslims returned to their camp after
having killed great numbers of the enemy and seizing their booty, wealth and cross.
Thomas entered the city and shut the gates. The doctors came to extract the arrow
from his eye but were unsuccessful, so they sawed it off, leaving the point in his eye.
They asked to take him to his house, but he refused and sat at the gate entrance until
the pain subsided. They said, "Go home for the remainder of the night, for today we
have suffered two tragedies - the tragedy of the Cross and the tragedy of your eye.
All this has been caused by the archer. That nation is invincible, so we ask you to
surrender."
Thomas became angry and said, "Be destroyed! Should I forget about the Great
Cross being taken and my eye being lost? When this news reaches Caesar, he will
accuse me of weakness and helplessness. No, they will be pursued under all
circumstances. I will recover my Cross and avenge my eyes with 1,000 of their eyes
and take back all that they have looted. Then I will go to their master in al-Hijaz,
wipe out his traces, destroy their houses, level the habitations and turn their cities into
abodes of wild animals."
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