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

IMAM ABU AL-FIDA' ISMA~L IBN KATH~R 49
It is said that this al-Mustawghir lived for 330 years, he being the longestlived
of all Mudar. It was he who spoke the lines:
"I have wearied of life and its length; I have lived for years in their hundreds;
One century was followed by two more, adding up the years from all the many
months.
Is what is left anything but like what we spent? Days and nights pass and urge us
on."
According to Ibn Hishzm these lines should be attributed to Zuhayr b. Janab
b. Hubal.
Al-Suhayli stated that the persons who lived longer than two or three hundred
years include this Zuhayr, Wbayd b. Shariyya, Daghfal b. Hanzala al-Nassaba,
d-Rabic b. Dabac al-Fuzari, Dha &Isba' d-'Adwani and Nasr b. Dihman b.
Ashjac b. Rayth b. Ghatfan. The hair of this last-mentioned blackened after it
had turned white, and his back became straight after having been crooked.
Ibn Ishaq's account continues, indicating that Dha al-Ka'b~t was an idol of
Bakr and Taghlib, the two sons of Ws'il, and Iyad at Sandad. Concerning it
A'sha of Bann Qays b. Tha'laba spoke the verse:
"Between al-Khawarnaq, alSadir, Bkq, and the temple with battlements at
Sandad."
The first part of this poem is as follows:
"I have learned, even if I lived longer, that one's path is that followed by the
ancients.
What can I hope after the A1 Muharriq have left their homes and after Iyad
too?
They settled at Anqara, where Tigris water flowed to them, coming from the lofty
mountains,
The land of al-Khawarnaq, al-Sadir, and Bariq, and the house of temples of
Sindad.
The winds stormed over the sites of their dwellings, as though their time were
predestined,
And I see that pleasure and all things enjoyed turn to decay and end."
According to al-Suhayli, al-Khawarnaq was a palace built by al-Nucmzn the
Elder for Sabiir so that he could have his children there in it with him. It was
designed by a man named Sinammar over 20 years. No finer building than it had
ever been seen. Al-Nu'man feared that Sinammar might build a similar one for
others, so he cast him down from its heights and killed him. A poet therefore
spoke the following lines about him:
"He recompensed me, may God give him His worst punishment, as Sinnamar was
recompensed, and he was guiltless.