Al-W¥^idÏ's Asb¥b al-Nuz‰l - The Royal Islamic Strategic Studies ...

Asbab al-Nuzul
of Allah, Allah bless him and give him peace, had given me an old camel mare from the quint (khums). 33
And when I was going to marry Fatimah, I had an appointment with a goldsmith from Banu Qaynuqa‘
whom I wanted to travel with me to buy Bulrush (Idhkhir) from a goldsmith for my wedding ceremony.
I went to gather some saddles, sacks and ropes — for my camels which were kneeled down close to a
Helper’s room. When I came back, I found my two camels with their humps cut off, their haunches
ripped open and their insides taken away. I could not believe what I saw, and asked: ‘Who did this’ They
said: ‘It was Hamzah ibn ‘Abd al-Muttalib; he is now in the house drinking with some Helpers. They have
a songstress who had sung:
O Hamzah, proceed to the old fat camels
Which are tied in the courtyard.
Put the knife to their throat
And, O Hamzah, smear blood on them.
And feed us from their slices, meat on skewer
attached together on glowing fire.
For you are, O Abu ‘Umarah, our hope
To relieve us from harm and afflicion.
So when he heard this, he jumped to his sword, cut off the camels’ humps, ripped open their haunches
and took away their insides’. I proceeded until I entered in on the Prophet, Allah bless him and give him
peace. He had with him Zayd ibn Harithah. The Messenger of Allah, Allah bless him and give him peace,
knew why I went to see him. He said: ‘What’s the matter with you’ I said: ‘O Messenger of Allah, I have
not seen anything like what I saw today. Hamzah attacked my camels, cut off their humps, ripped open
their haunches and he is still drinking until now in a certain house’. The Messenger of Allah, Allah bless
him and give him peace, called for his outer garment and walked off. Zayd ibn Harithah and I followed
him. He proceeded until he arrived to the house where Hamzah was drinking. He asked permission to
enter and permission was granted. They were all drunk. The Messenger of Allah, Allah bless him and
give him peace, began reproaching Hamzah for what he did while Hamzah’s eyes were red from being
completely drunk. Hamzah looked at the Messenger of Allah, Allah bless him and give him peace; then
he stared at him, looked at his knees, then stared at his face and said: ‘Are you not but the slaves of my
father’ The Messenger of Allah, Allah bless him and give him peace, realised that he was very drunk.
He stepped back, left the house and we left after him”. Narrated by Bukhari from Ahmad ibn Salih. This
incident was among the reasons which made incumbent the revelation of forbidding intoxicants.
(There shall be no sin (imputed) unto those who believe and do good works for what they may have
eaten (in the past)) [5:93].
Muhammad ibn ‘Abd al-Rahman al-Mutawwi‘i informed us> Abu ‘Amr Muhammad ibn Ahmad al-
Hiri> Abu Ya‘la> Abu’l-Rabi‘ Sulayman ibn Dawud al-‘Ataki> Hammad> Thabit> Anas who said: “I
was serving people wine in the house of Abu Talhah when intoxicants were made unlawful. Their wine
was made from unripe dates, split unripe dates and dates. We heard a crier announcing that intoxicants
were made unlawful. And so wine started flowing in the streets of Medina. Abu Talhah said: ‘Go out and
spill it’, and so I spilled it. But then one of the people said: ‘So-and-so and so-and-so were killed with
wine in their bellies’. As a result, Allah, exalted is He, revealed (There shall be no sin (imputed) unto those
who believe and do good works for what they may have eaten (in the past))”. 34 Narrated by Muslim from
33
On the Khums (quint) see, Ahmad ibn Naqib al-Misri, The Reliance of the Traveller (tr. Nuh Ha Mim Keller), Sunna Books, 1991,
p. 666, and also the article of F. Løkkergaard in ei 2 .
34
Tabari, :37; Qurtubi, :293; Durr, :172-173.
100