The Life of the Prophet Muhammad by Ibn Kathir - Volume 1 of 4

IMAM ABD AL-FIDA' ISMAC~L IBN KATH~R 97
staff which she struck on the ground so hard that it completely stampeded their
camels and they scattered in all directions. So off they went and chased them till
they had them back. When they were all gathered, she again appeared, struck
her staff on the ground and stampeded the camels. So off they went to search for
them but having failed they asked Umayya, "By God, do YOU have any way out
of our problem?" He replied, "No, by God, hut I'll look into it." SO they travelled
on into that region hoping to find someone whom they could ask for some solution
to their trouble. Eventually they saw a light ahead in the distance. When they
arrived there they found an old man lighting a fire at the door of his tent. But he
was in fact an evil spirit who was extremely tiny and ugly. They greeted him and
he asked them what they wanted. (When they told him) he said: "When she comes
to you, say: 'In your name, 0 God' and she will flee." So when the travellers had
assembled their camels and she came for the third or fourth time, Umayya
looked her in the face and said: "In your name, 0 God." She promptly fled in
disarray. But the evil spirits attacked Harb b. Umayya and killed him with that
snake. His companions buried him there far from home or friend. On that
subject the spirits spoke the verse:
"The grave of Harb is in a wasteland and there is no grave near that of Harb."
Some people say that Umayya sometimes understood the languages of the
animals. When passing some bird in his travel he would tell his companions,
"This one says so-and-so." But they would say they did not know whether he
spoke the truth. But once they passed by a flock of sheep from which an ewe and
her kid had been separated. She turned to it and bleated, as though urging it to
hurry. Umayya asked his companions whether they knew what it said and they
replied that they did not. He explained: "She's saying, 'Let's hurry along so the
wolf won't come and eat you up like one did your brother last year."' The group
moved quickly on and asked the shepherd whether a wolf had eaten a sheep in
that area the previous year. He replied in the affirmative! One day, moreover,
Umayya passed by a mule carrying a woman and raising its head to her and
grumbling. Umayya said: "The mule is telling the woman that there's a needle
in the saddle which she mounted on him.'' So they took the woman off, untied
the saddle, and discovered there was a needle as he had said.
Ibn alSikkit recounted that Umayya b. Abii al-Salt was drinking when a crow
cawed. Umayya said, "May you have dust twice in your mouth!" His companions
asked Umayya what it was saying and he replied that it had said: "You'll
drink that cup in your hand then die." At that point the crow cawed again and
Umayya reported: "It says: 'The proof is that I'm going to fly down to this
garbage pile, eat some and a hone is going to stick in my throat so I will die."' At
that the crow swooped down to the garbage pile, ate something, a bone lodged in
its throat and it died!