The Chaliphate - Muir - The Search For Mecca

1
A.II. II.
His widow
taken to wife
by Khalid.
Khalid
exonerated
by Abu Beki,
But held
guilty by
'Omar.
Scandal of
the case.
26 AI5U r'.EKR [cir.vp. V.
victim, on the .spot. From thi.s .scandalou.s act, 'Omar drew
the wor.st conchision. " He hath conspired to .slay a believer,"
he said, " and hath gone in unto hi.s wife." He was in.stant
with Abu Bekr that the offender .should be degraded and
put in bonds, saying, " The sword of Khalid, dipped in violence
and outrage, must be sheathed." " Nay !" replied the Caliph
(of whom it is said that he never degraded any one of his
Commanders) ;— " the Sword which the Lord hath made
bare against the heathen, shall I sheathe it? That be far
from me!" Nevertheless he summoned Khalid to answer
the charge.
Khalid obeyed the call. On reaching Medina, he went
straightway to the great Mosque and entered it in rough
costume, his clothes rusty with the girded armour, and his
turban, stuck with arrows, coiled rudely about the head.
As he passed along the courtyard towards the Caliph's
chamber, 'Omar met him. Unable to restrain himself, he
seized the arrows from the warrior's turban, broke them
over his shoulder, and abused him as hypocrite, murderer,
and adulterer. Khalid, unaware whether Abu Bekr might
not be of the same mind, answered not a word but passed
into the Caliph's presence. There he told his story, and
the explanation was accepted by Abu Bekr ; but he chided
him roughly for having taken to wife his victim's widow,
and run counter to Arab sentiment in incontinently celebrating
his nuptials on the field of battle. As Khalid, thus
relieved, again passed out, he lightly rallied 'Omar in words
which showed that he had been exonerated. Mutemmam
then pressed his claim of blood-money for his brother's life
and release of the prisoners that remained. For the release
Abu Bekr gave command, but payment he declined.
'Omar, still unconvinced of Khalid's innocence, advised
that he should be withdrawn from the command. He
persevered in pressing this view upon Abu Bekr, who at
last replied, " 'Omar, hold thy peace ! Refrain thy tongue
from Khalid. He gave an order, and the order was misunderstood."
But 'Omar heeded not. He neither forgave
nor forgot, as in the sequel we shall see.
The scandal was the greater because Malik ibn Nuweira
was a chief renowned for generosity and princely virtues,
as well as for poetic talent.
His brother Mutemmam, a poet