The Life of the Prophet Muhammad by Ibn Kathir - Volume 2 of 4

44 THE LIFE OF THE PROPHET MUHAMMAD
him, therefore stated, "He who wishes to know about the maghzzi, the early
military engagements, is reliant upon Ibn Ishaq."
Ibn Ishaq stated, "While the Bann Hashii and the Banii al-Muytalih were
living in their house assigned to them by Quraysh in the document they had
written, a certain group of Quraysh set about abrogating that document.
"No one took more pains to do this than Hisham b.'Amr b. al-Hzrith b. Habib
b. Nasr b. M&k b. His1 b. 'Amir b. Lu'ayy; this was because he was the nephew
of Nadla b. Hishim b. 'Abd Manzf by his mother, and Hishh had close ties to
the Bann Hshim. He was, moreover, deemed highly by his people.
"When, at night, the Bann Hashim and the Bann al-Muttalib were restricted
to their building in the enclave, he would, as I have been told, bring up a camel
loaded down with food. When he reached the entrance to the enclave he would
release the halter from the camel's head and strike its side to send it on down to
them. Next time he would bring it loaded with wheat and do the same.
"He went to Zuhayr b. Abii Umayya h. al-Mughira h. 'Ahd All& b. 'Amr b.
Makhznm, whose mother was 'Atika, daughter of 'Abd al-Mutralib, and said,
'Zuhayr, does it please you to eat and dress well and to marry women while your
uncles are where you know them to be, engaging in no buying nor selling,
arranging no marriages, nor having any arranged with them? For my part, I
swear that if they were the uncles of Aha al-Hakam b. Hisham and you were to
ask him to treat them as you have been asked to do, he would never have agreed
to your request.'
"'Shame on you, Hishh! What can I do? I'm just one man. If someone else
would join me, I'd set about abrogating it.'
"Hisham replied, 'You have found one such man.' 'Who is that?' he asked.
'Myself,' came the answer. 'Well,' Zuhayr went on, 'find us a third then.'
"And so Hisham went to al-Mut'i h. 'Adi and told him, LMutci, are you
pleased to have two clans of the Bann 'Abd Manaf suffer while you look on, in
agreement with Quraysh about that? By God, if you enable them to do this they
will soon be treating you the same way.'
"'Damn it! What am I to do? I'm just one man,' Mutcim commented.
"Hisham replied, 'I have found you a second.' 'Who?' 'Myself.'
"'Then find a third,' Muc'im asked. 'I already have.'
"'Who is that?'
"'Zuhayr h. Ahn Umayya.'
"'Then find us a fourth,' asked Mutcim.
"So Hishh went to Abn al-Bakhtari h. Hisham and told him what he had
said to Mut'i h. 'Adi.
"Ahn al-Bakhtari asked, 'Can you find anyone else to help in this?'
"'Yes, I can,' Hisham replied.
"'Who?' he asked.
"'Zuhayr b. Aba 'Umayya, Mut'im h. 'Adi and myself are with you.'
"'Find us a fifth,' he asked.