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

IMAM ABU AL-EID& ISMA~L IBN KATHfR 155
"When Satih heard those verses he raised his head and said, 'Why, it's 'Abd
al-Masih, ridden here on a tireless mount, who's come to Satih, looking down at
my death-bed; you've been sent by the king of the Sassanians, because of the
shaking of his palace, the extinguishing of the fires, and the visions of the priest
who saw wild camels leading pure-bred horses that had crossed the Tigris and
spread into their lands.
"'0'Abd al-Masih, when many recitations have been made and the sceptrebearer
has appeared, the Samwa valley flooded, Lake Sawa dried up, and the
fires of Persia gone out, then Syria is Syria no more for Satih. Of them there shall
reign kings and queens to the number of their balconies; all that will be, will he.'
"At that Satih died, right then and there. So 'Abd al-Masih mounted his
camel, saying the following verses:
'Get going, for you are decisive and expeditious; separation and change do not
alarm you.
If the mle of the Sassanians is ending (so he it), for man is all stages and periods of
time,
They may have achieved a status whose power mighty lions dread,
Of whom was Bahram of the Tower and his brothers, the al-HurmozXn, and Sshiir
and S~hiir.~'
People are indeed changeable; knowing that one of them has become destitute he is
then despised and abandoned,
And many are the people who are (erroneously) influenced by what they hear, as if
distracted by playing flutes.
However, should they see someone with riches and prosperity, then they are to him
closely associated. This has been the secret of life, well preserved and repeatedly
validated (they say), that's the province and concern of the unknown,
And good and evil stick always as a pair; for good is pursued relentlessly, evil
avoided.'
"When 'Abd al-Masih came in to Chosroe and told him what Satih had said,
Chosroe replied, 'So, until 14 of us have ruled, many things can happen!'
"Ten of their kings did rule in a period of four years and the remainder ruled
on until the caliphate of Wthman, God be pleased with hi."
Al-Bayhaqi related this from an account of 'Abd al-Rahmzn b. Muhammad b.
Idris, from 'Ali b. Harh al-Mtisili in similar form.
The last of their kings, the one from whom rule was wrested, was Yazdajard
h. Shahriya b. Abrawiz b. Hurmuz h. Aniishirwan; it was the last mentioned in
whose era the domed palace shook. His forebears had ruled for 3,164 years. The
hst of their kings was JuyLimart h. Umaym b. Lawadh b. S& b. Noah.
Mention of the lives of Shiqq and Satih have been given above.
61. Bahm, Sabm, and Ssbm were Sassanian kings. Al-Hurmuzan was a famous Persian military
leader.