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

184 THE LIFE OF THE PROPHET MUHAMAD
'sacrilegious' war broke out between Quraysh and its Kin%na supporters and
Qays 'Ayl%n.
"What started it was that Wrwa al-whit1 b. Wtba b. Jacfar b. Kilab b. Rabi'a
b. CAmr b. Sa$ab b. Muswiya b. Bakr b. Haw%in had given a passing permission
to a trading caravan of musk which belonged to al-Nucm%n b. al-Mundhir.
And so al-Barrsd b. Qays, one of the tribe of Dumra b. Bakr b. 'Abd Manat b.
Kinma asked, 'Are you going to apply the same against Kinana's will?' 'Yes,'
was the reply, 'and against everyone.'
"So Wrwa d-R&h%l set out with the trading party and d-Barrad left too,
seeking to catch him unawares. When the party reached the high ground of
Tayman Dha Tdd, Wrwa became careless and al-Bamitd fell upon him and
killed him; this was during the sacred month. Consequently the warfare became
known as 'sacrilegious'." Al-Barrad spoke the following verses about all this:
"There's many a tragedy that distressed people before me that I, 0 Bano Bakr,
stood fum against.
Thereby I destroyed the houses of Bann Kilab and humbled the freed slaves to
submission.
I raised my fist against him at Dho Tila and he dropped like a felled tree."
Labid b. Rabi'a b. Malik b. Jacfar b. Kilitb also composed the lines:
"Tell Bano Kikh, if you chance on them, and 'Amir, that there are some who can
master disasters,
Tell Banii Numayr, if you chance on them, and the dead man's uncles of Bana
ma,
That the expected al-Rahgl now rests at Tayman Dho Tila."
Ibn Hisham continued, "A man arrived and told Quraysh of it, saying,
'Al-Bmd has killed Wrwa, and during the sacred month, at 'Uk-.' They then
rode off, unbeknown to Hawain. When IIawain learned of this they pursued
them and caught up with them before they reached the sacred territory. They
engaged in battle till nightfall but then they went inside the sacred territory and
Hawain gave up on them.
"They met for several days after that battle, with the people going forth under
various banners with a leader from each of the tribes of Quraysh and Kinma,
and a leader from each of the tribes of Qays.
"The Messenger of God (SAAS) was present at some of these battles, his
uncles having taken him with themselves. The Messenger of God (SAAS) said,
'I was giving arrows to my uncles.' That is, he would gather for them the arrows
their enemy had shot at them."
Ibn Hishan said, "The account of the 'sacrilegious' war is very long, longer than
I have recounted. But I have been deterred from recounting it because it would
have interrupted the telling of the biography of the Messenger of God (SAAS)."