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

IMAM ABU AL-FIDA' ISM.&[~L IBN KATH~R 57
"Al-Aswad b. 'Ahd Yaghnth had ulcers grow out of his head, and he died of
them.
"Al-Aswad b. al-Mu~alib went blind. The cause of that was that he once
dismounted under a gum tree and began calling out, '0 Son, help, can't you
protect me! I'm dead! ' His companions responded that they could see nothing,
hut he repeated, '0 Son, can't you protect me? I'm perishing! I'm being pricked
with thorns in my eyes!' Again they said they saw nothing, but he kept saying
the same until his eyes were blind.
"Al-Haith b. 'Aytil was afnicted with yellow bile in his stomach until his
excrement emerged from his mouth and he died of that.
"AlLC& b. W2il one day had a thorn enter his head and caused it to be filled
(with pus), and he died of this."
Others, however, narrate this account thus: ". . . and he rode to T9if on a
donkey that let hi down on to a thorn and it pierced the sole of his foot and
killed him."
Al-Bayhaqi related this tradition in much the same way.
Ibn Ishaq stated, "The chief men who engaged in ridicule, as I was told by Yazid
b. Rawmm, from Wrwa b. al-Zubayr, were five in number. They were all men
of maturity and highly regarded among their people. The Messenger of God
(SAAS) spoke a curse against al-Aswad h. al-Mutcalib Aha Zamk '0 God, blind
his sight and make him bereft of his son!'
"The others were al-Aswad b. CAbd Yaghath, al-Walid b. al-Mughira, al-'AS
b. Wi?il, and al-Harith b. al-Talatil."
He also recounted that Almighty God revealed about them, "Announce what
you have been ordered, and turn aside from the polytheists. We will take care of
the mockers for you, those who establish another god alongside God. They shall
learn!" (swat al-Hajar; XV, v.944).
He related, "Gabriel came to the Messenger of God (SAAS), while these men
were circumambulating the kacba. Gabriel stood up, the Messenger of God
(SAAS) at his side, while al-Aswad b. al-Muytalib went by. Gabriel threw a
green leaf into his face and he became blind.
"Al-Aswad b. 'Abd Yaghath next passed and Gabriel pointed at his stomach.
It became swollen and so he died of dropsy.
"Al-Walid h. al-Mughira went by and Gabriel pointed at the scar of a wound
at the base of his ankle that he had suffered years before when he had passed by
a man of Khuza'a re-feathering an arrow, the head of which had caught on his
robe and slightly cut him. After this, however, it burst open and so he died.
"Al-'AS b. WPil passed and Gabriel pointed to the underside of his foot. Al-
'AS later left on a donkey for ?%)if. The donkey threw him on to a thorn which
pierced his foot and killed him.
"Al-Harith b. al-Talzyil went by and Gabriel pointed at his head. It filled with
pus and so killed him."