The Chaliphate - Muir - The Search For Mecca

32 ARU REKR [chap. v.
A.n. II. answered, "thou ha.st heard it all; he wa.s one whom the
Lord blcs.scd not, nor yet his people "
; and they repeated
to him .some of the things he used to say. " Good heavens !
exclaimed Abu Bekr ; "what kind of words are these?
There is neither sense in them for good nor yet for evil,
but a strange fatuity to have beguiled you thus." So he
dismissed them to their homes.
Many Among the slain are not a few names familiar to the
sl^n,^^"'°"^
student of the Prophet's life. The carnage amongst the
" Readers " (those who had the Kor'an by heart) was so
Khalid takes
dau ^hter to
great as to give 'Omar the first idea of collecting the Sacred
Text, " lest any part of it should be lo.st." At the death of
his brother Zeid who had shared with him all the dangers
of the early battles of Islam, 'Omar was inconsolable.
" Thou art returned home," he said to his son 'Abdallah,
" safe and sound ; and Zeid is dead. Wherefore \ wast
not thou slain before him ? I wish not to see thy face."
• " Father," was his reply, "he asked for martyrdom, and the
Lord granted it. I strove after the same, but it was not
given unto me." Such was the spirit of these Muslim
warriors.
Khalid again signalised his victory by wedding a captive
'^^^^ upon the field. " Give me thy daughter to wife," he
wife. said to Maja'a, the same who had so faithfully defended his
bride in the hour of peril. " Wait," replied Maja'a ;
" be not
so hasty ; thou wilt harm thyself in the Caliph's eyes, and
me likewise." " Man, give me thy daughter ! " he repeated
imperiously ; so Maja'a gave her to him. When Abu Bekr
heard of it, he wrote him a letter sprinkled with blood. " By
my life ! thou son of Khalid's father, thou art a pretty
fellow, living thus at thine ease. Thou weddest a damsel,
whilst the ground beneath the nuptial couch is yet
moistened with the blood of twelve hundred 1 " The
reproof fell lightly upon Khalid. " This is the work," he
said as he read the epistle, " of that left-handed fellow,"
meaning 'Omar. The sentiment, however, was Abu Bekr's
own ; but the " Sword of the Lord " could not be spared.
We shall meet Khalid next in Chaldaea, by the banks of
the Euphrates.
"