The Life of the Prophet Muhammad by Ibn Kathir - Volume 3 of 4

80 THE LIFE OF THE PROPHET MUHAMMAD
Left prostrate at the site, they were 70 in number, Wtba and al-Aswad among
them.
And Ibn al-Mughira too whom we struck above his neckartery, making it flow
and foam.
And it was a sharp sword in the hands of the believers that set Umayya al-Jumahi
straight.
The polytheist rabble came to you, chased by the cavalry, like ostriches in retreat.
What a difference there is in those for ever in hell and those who dwell in paradise
in eternity!"'
Ibn Ishaq went on to say that Abd All& b. Rawaha spoke the following verses
in mourning for Hamza and his fellow warriors killed at the battle of Uhud. Ibn
Hisham, however, stated that Abn Zayd recited them to hi as having been
composed by Ka0 b. Mdik. But God knows best.
"My eyes wept, and they had a right to do so; but weeping and wailing will do
no good.
For the lion of God, that day they asked, 'Could that man slain be Hamza!'
Through his death all the Muslims were injured there, the Messenger as well.
0 Hamza, Ya'ls's father, the very foundations were destroyed; you were the
epitome of glory, piety and kindness.
May God's peace be upon you in paradise, in pleasure that will never end!
0 HBhim, of all men the best, be steadfast; and all your deeds were good and
generous.
The Messenger of God is noble and patient; it is at God's mmmand he enunciates
when he speaks.
Who will inform Lu'ayy for me, for after today, the world will be utterly changed.
And before this day they have known and tasted deeds of ours by which the thirst
for vengeance was satisfied.
You have all forgotten our blows at the pool of Badr, that day when sudden death
struck you.
That day when Abo Jahl fell prostrate, the vultures circled and hovered above him,
And Wtba and his son also fell, and Shayba was bitten by the burnished sword.
There we left Umayya stretched out, a slim spear between his ribs.
Ask the heads of Bana Rabi'a; our swords have notches because of them.
0 Hid," weep and tire not of it; for you are passionate, shedding tears as though
bereaved of a son.
And You, Hmd, show no joy at Hamza's death; your exultation is despicable.
Ihn Ishaq continued, "Safiyya daughter of 'Abd al-Murr;llib spoke the following
verses, mourning her brother Hamza h. 'Abd al-Mutmlib. She was the mother
19. This Hind is presumably Hind daughter of Uththa b. 'Ahbad h. 'Abd al-MuMib who
had eulogized Hamza (see above p.52), while the Hind of the next line would be the daughter of
Wtba b. Rabi'a, the wife of Abn Sufym, who had swam to eat Hamza's liver when the latter had
killed her father Wtba at Badr. The two women spoke verses against one another after the banle
of Uhud.