Guillaume--Life of Muhammad.pdf - Radical Truth

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The Life ofMuhammad
Sayf b. Dhii Yazan al-I:Iimyari said:
Men thought the two kings had made peace
And those who heard of their reconciliation found the matter was
very grave.
We slew t~e prince Masriiq and reddened the sands with blood.
The new prince, the people's prince,
Wahriz swore an oath that
He would drink no wine until he had captured prisoners and spoil (50).
Abii al-$alt b. Abii Rabi'a aI-Thaqafi (51) said:
Let those seek vengeance who are like Ibn Dhii Yazan
Who spent long years at sea because of his enemies,
When the time for his journey came he went to Caesar
But did not attain what he sought.
Then he turned to Chosroes after ten years,
Counting his life and money cheap,
Until he came bringing the Persians with him.
By my life you were swift in action,
What a noble band came out:
Never were their like seen among men!
Nobles, princes, mighty men, archers,
Lions who train their cubs in the jungle!
From curved bows they shot arrows
Stout .. the poles of the howdah
Bringing the victim a speedy death.
You sent lions against black dogs,
Their fugitives are scattered all over the earth.
So drink your fill, wearing your crown,
On Ghumdan's top reclining in a house you have chosen.
Drink your fill, for they are dead,
And walk proudly today in your flowing robes.
Such are noble deeds! not two pails of milk mingled with water
Which afterwards become urine (53)'
'Adiy b. Zayd al-I:Iiri, one of B. Tamim, said:
What is there after $an'a' in which once lived
Rulers of a kingdom whose gifts were lavish?
Its builder raised it to the flying clouds,
Its lofty chambers gave forth musk.
Protected by mountains against the attacks of enemies, I
Its lofty heights unscalable.
1 Kti'id here r take to mean a resourceful foe. The Cairo editors prefer to find a reference
to God.
The Life of Muhammad
Pleasant was the voice of the night 0\\'1 there,
Answered at even by a flute player..
Fate brought to it the Persian army
'Vith their knights in their train;
They travelled on mules laden with death,
While the asses' foals ran beside them
Until the princes saw from the top of the fortress
Their squadrons shining with steel,
The day that they called to the barbarians and al-Yaksum
'Cursed be he who runs awayl'
'Twas a day of which the story remains,
But a people of long established1 dignity came to an end.
Persians 2 replaced the native born,
The days were dark' and mysterious.
After noble sons of Tubba',
Persian generals were firmly settled there (54).
(T. When Wahriz had conquered the Yaman and driven out the Abyssinians
he wrote to Chosroes telling him of what had been done and sending
T· 949
him captured treasure. In his reply the king told him to appoint Sayf king
of the Yaman. He also gave Sayf instructions to collect taxes every year
and to remit them to him. He summoned \Vahriz to his presence and Sayf
became king, he being the son of Dhii Yazan of the Kings of the Yaman.
This is what Ibn I:Iumayd told me from Salama on the authority of Ibn
Is\1aq. )4
(When Wahriz had gone to Chosroes and made Sayf king of the Yaman, T·957
the latter began to attack the Abyssinians, killing them and slaying the
women with child until he exterminated all but an insignificant number of
miserable creatures whom he employed as slaves and runners to go before
him with their lances. Before very long he was out with these armed slaves
when suddenly they surrounded him and stabbed him to death. One of
them established himself as leader,and they went through the Yarnan slaying
and laying waste the country. \Vhen the Persian king heard of this he
sent Wahriz with 4,000 Persians and ordered him to kill every Abyssinian
or child of an Abyssinian and an Arab woman, great or small, and not leave
alive a single man with crisp curly hair. Wahriz arrived and in due course
carried out these instructions and wrote to tell the king that he had done
so. The king then gave him viceregal authority and he ruled under Chosroes
until his death.)
tReading umma for C.'s imma.
2 Fayj, the reading of C. (against W.'sfay~) is a Persian word for a crowd of men. I.K.
has hayj.
3 A variant is khun, 'treacherous'.
.. In this chapter T.'s version is much more vivid and detailed and reads much more like
the lively style of Ibn Isl)iiq. No doubt Ibn Hisham cut down this to him unimportant
chapter as much as he eQuid.
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