Classical Arabic Stories

by Salma Khadra Jayyusi

  They got hold of us and pulled us out. Her father came toward me.

  “What sort of man are you?” he asked. “Can I marry her to you, and avoid any scandal?”

  “How would I do anything else?” I said, sensing my life might be safe now.

  He thereupon married her to me, the dowry fifty camels, a bondwoman, and a slave. I went back to my father and told him of all this, and he fetched her. And here she is, witness to what I’ve just said.

  From Dawud al-Antaki, Tazyin al-Aswaq bi Tafsil Ashwaq al-ʿUshshaq (Adorning the Markets with Tales of Lovers’ Longing), vol. 1, ed. Muhammad al-Tunji (Beirut: ʿAlam al-Kutub, 1993).

  6

  A Charitable Gift

  Hammad told the following, which he learned from the chieftains of the Tayy tribe:

  So generous and munificent was ʿUnbah bint ʿAfif, mother of Hatim [al-Taʿi], that she could withhold nothing. Her brothers strove to restrain her, but she would not listen to them; and, since she was wealthy, her brothers confined her in a house for a year, providing her with food, in the hope she would learn to hold back. Then, after a year, supposing her to have changed her ways, they released her and gave her a flock of camels [between twenty and fifty in number].

  A woman from Hawazin then came to her, begging charity. She gave the woman the flock.

  “By God,” she said, “I was touched by such hunger, I made a vow to withhold nothing from any who asked.”

  From Ibn Qutaiba, ʿUyun al-Akhbar (The Book of Useful Knowledge), vol. 1.

  7

  A Cunning Message

  Abu Hatim, quoting al-Asmaʿi, told me how a certain Bedouin had related as follows:

  A man fell in love with a woman and married her, sending her a gift of thirty sheep and a skin of wine. On his way the messenger drank some of the wine and slaughtered a sheep. As he made to leave, she told him:

  “Greet your master, and tell him our month is one day short, and that Sahim, the shepherd minding our ewe, brought it to us sucked.”

  When he reached his master and told him this, his master beat him till he confessed his crime.

  From Ibn Qutaiba, ʿUyun al-Akhbar (The Book of Useful Knowledge), vol. 2.

  8

  A Noble Wife

  [THE FOLLOWING PIECE IS INCLUDED HERE AS AN INDICATION OF THE SOCIAL TENSIONS THAT COULD ARISE IMMEDIATELY FOLLOWING THE ARRIVAL OF ISLAM.]

  I spoke of the eloquence of women to Ziyad bin Abih, telling him as follows:

  Qais bin ʿAsim converted to Islam while he had a wife from the Hanifa tribe. Her relatives and her father refused to do the same, and they feared she herself would convert. Should she do so, they vowed, they would have nothing more to do with her as long as she lived.

  Qais accordingly parted with her, and, when she was borne off to her people and some of them were in attendance, Qais stood up and praised her, saying he had separated from her against his will; that she herself had wished for this following his conversion to Islam.

  “The praise you have given,” the wife said then, “accords with your noble lineage and your goodness. And, by God, you have been full of affection, have been distinguished far above others, and failed seldom, embracing solitude after the Prophet’s message. For me my widowhood in your lifetime is easier than it would have been after your death. Know that I shall remain in the nest of no husband, after you.”

  From Abu ʾl-Faraj al-Asfahani, al-Aghani (Book of Songs), from Ahmad ibn Abi Tahir Tayfur, Balaghat al-Nisaʾ (The Eloquence of Women).

  9

  The Exile of al-Harith ibn Midad

  [ACCORDING TO AN ANCIENT STORY, THE SONS OF ISRAEL HAD ABANDONED THE FAITH OF DAWUD (DAVID) AND SULAIMAN (SOLOMON) AND CHANGED THE WORDS OF AL-ZABUR, THE HOLY BOOK THAT GOD HAD GIVEN TO DAWUD. THE SONS OF ISRAEL, BEARING WITH THEM A COFFER CONTAINING SOME PRECIOUS HOLY SCRIPTS, LAUNCHED A MILITARY CAMPAIGN AGAINST MECCA. WHEN AL-HARITH IBN MIDAD AL-JURHUMI, KING OF MECCA AT THE TIME, DEFEATED THEM, THEY ABANDONED THE COFFER. THE PEOPLE OF THE JURHUM AND ʿIMLAQ TRIBES BURIED IT BENEATH ONE OF THE DUNG HEAPS IN MECCA; BUT AL-HARITH IBN MIDAD, AWARE OF THE PRECIOUS NATURE OF THE CONTENTS, OBJECTED TO THIS, ORDERING THAT THE COFFER SHOULD BE EXHUMED BY NIGHT. THE SONS OF JURHUM AND ʿIMLAQ, HAVING DISHONORED THE HOLY SCRIPTS IN THE COFFER, SUBSEQUENTLY VANISHED, AND AL-HARITH IBN MIDAD, IN HIS DISTRESS, EXILED HIMSELF FOR THREE HUNDRED YEARS. “THE EXILE OF AL-HARITH IBN MIDAD” BECAME PROVERBIAL IN ARABIC.]

  It was related on the part of Iyad ibn Nizar ibn Maʿadd that he gave the following account when asked about the sources of his wealth:

  When my father, Nizar, died, he left behind him, along with myself, my three younger brothers, Mudar, Rabiʿa, and Anmar. As I was his eldest son, he had entrusted them to me, telling me I should seek the opinion of the wise Qulmus, the Serpent of Najran,1 if we had disputes over the inheritance. When we went to him, he decided the camels and sheep should go to me, the dome to Mudar, the mare to Rabiʿa, and the land to Anmar.

  After a time a great disaster struck us, and I lost all my wealth except for ten camels. These I began to hire out to feed my family. One day I hired out my camels, and my brothers did the same, for a journey to Damascus, and from there I returned to Medina. There I could find no one to hire my camels back to Mecca. The caravans were due to leave next morning, and there were ten staging posts between the two cities.

  Suddenly, in my distress, I heard a voice crying out:

  “Oh people, can anyone give me a mount to the holy city? If so, for the ride of a camel, I will pay him as much as his camel can bear in pearls and rubies and gold.”

  No one, though, was inclined to accept his offer, for people were busy with their own affairs. “Why,” I said to myself, “do I not offer him a camel? If he is speaking the truth, I shall be rich, and if he is lying, I have nothing to lose.” I sought out the voice, and came upon an old man as tall as a palm tree, blind, and with a beard reaching to his knees. Perturbed on account of his great size, I approached nonetheless.

  “Old man,” I said, “I have what you are seeking.”

  “Come nearer, son,” he said.

  As I drew closer, he placed his hand on my shoulder, and I felt it like the weight of a mountain.

  “Are you Iyad ibn Nizar?” he asked.

  “Yes,” I said. “How do you know my name?”

  “I know from my father and my grandfather,” he said, “that Iyad ibn Nizar will bring al-Harith ibn Midad al-Jurhumi back to Mecca after a long exile. How many camels do you have?”

  “Ten,” I replied.

  “That will be enough,” he said.

  “Do you have others with you?” I asked.

  “No,” he said. “But I shall ride each camel for a single day, after which it will be crippled.

  ”Resolved to honor my word and help him, I agreed.

  “Take me to your home,” he said then, “to spend the night.”

  He spent the night with me there, and next morning, when people set out for Mecca, I joined them, taking just the old man with me. We traveled the whole day, till sunset, and the camel was crippled. Next morning I supplied another camel to carry him, and so we went on, with camel after camel crippled by the end of the day. Finally we reached Mecca and were on Mount al-Matabikh.

  “Son,” he said, “I feel the camel pulling up. Have you reached Mount al-Matabikh?”

  “Yes,” I replied.

  “Is there anyone close by,” he went on, “who can hear what I say?”

  “No,” I said. “There are some people in front and some behind.”

  Then he asked:

  “Do you know who I am?”

  “No,” I said.

  “I am al-Harith ibn Midad ibn ʿAbd al-Masih ibn Nufayla … ibn Jurhum ibn

  Qahtan,” he said … “I was king of Mecca and the lands around … The king before me was my brother ʿAmr ibn Midad. We were crowned kings, and one day we would wear the crown on our heads, the other day we would hang it at the gate of al-Bayt al-ʿAtiq [in Mecca].2 It so happened that a
merchant from among the sons of Israel came to Mecca to sell pearls and rubies, and my brother, King ʿAmr, bought from him all he had. And the king reshaped the crown, adding more jewels to it so it looked like a shield. The Israeli, though, had hidden his best jewels and offered them to others.

  “When the king learned of this, he had the Israeli brought before him.

  “ ‘Is it a fact,’ he asked, ‘that you hid your best jewels from me and sold me the meanest ones? Did I not ask you for the best?’

  “ ‘Yes, Your Majesty,’ the man answered.

  “ ‘Why then did you do this?’ asked the king.

  “ ‘The goods are mine, Your Majesty,’ the Israeli said, ‘and I am free to sell what I wish and hold back what I wish.’

  “The king was so angry he commanded that the man’s pearls and rubies, few though they were, should be seized. The Israeli, though, lay in wait for the man who hung the crown at the Bayt al-ʿAtiq, killed him, and took the crown, fleeing by night on a strong camel. Next morning, when the matter came to light, people did not know who the culprit was, till at last they had news from Jerusalem. King ʿAmr then sent to the Israelites, whose ruler was Faran ibn Yaʿqub ibn Sibt ibn Yamin, ordering him to return the crown and pay the price for the blood that had been shed; and to admit to the crime and formally proclaim his regret … Faran, though, refused.

  “King ʿAmr then wrote to him that the crown was always hung at the door of the holy al-Bayt al-ʿAtiq in Mecca, and that nothing in the crown had ever been taken by force or treachery. To this Faran replied that he wished to hang it in Jerusalem. ‘God is rich,’ King ʿAmr wrote then. ‘How can you rob one holy house for the sake of another, to honor God through trickery?’ Faran, though, answered: ‘We are faithful people with a holy book, and we know God better than you.’ ‘He knows God best who obeys Him,’ King ʿAmr said. ‘I see not one house of God robbed for another house of God, but rather one king robbing another.’

  “We launched a campaign against them, with a hundred thousand men from Jurhum and a further hundred thousand from ʿImlaq, and we were supported with fifty thousand by al-Ahwas ibn ʿAmr al-ʿAbdudi of ʿAbdud ibn Kulayb, a branch of the Qudaʿa ibn Himyar tribe. Faran, son of Yaʿqub, sought help from his Byzantine allies, whose head, Shunayf ibn Hiraql, supported him with a hundred thousand men. Faran himself was at the head of a further hundred thousand from the sons of Israel, supported by a hundred thousand from the people of al-Sham [Syria]. Faran ibn Yaʿqub halted with his men at this mountain, Mount al-Matabikh, and we did the same. Do you know how it came to be given this name?”

  “No,” I said.

  “When Faran and Shunayf,” he said, “halted on the eastern side of the mountain, they kindled a fire and cooked their food. We, for our part, halted on the western side of the mountain, lit a fire, and cooked our food. So the mountain came to be called Mount al-Matabikh [the Mountain of Cooking] … When the two armies were facing each other, my brother, King ʿAmr, came to me and said: ‘Harith, you shall be my successor.’ Then he went to the opposing army and asked: ‘Who is your king? Here am I, ʿAmr ibn Midad.’ When Shunayf stood up, ʿAmr said: ‘Why should people die for you and me? Let us fight in single combat. If you kill me, my people will give you their obedience; and if I kill you, your people will give me their obedience.’ Shunayf consented to this, and the outcome was that ʿAmr killed him … When, though, ʿAmr asked Faran to give him what he and Shunayf had agreed, Faran said he would give him from the wealth of the people of Mecca when he conquered it. Thereupon ʿAmr sent him a message saying: ‘This breach of honor you have shown is the same as you showed before. Tomorrow I shall fight you.’

  “Before the battle, al-Ahwas ibn ʿAmr al-ʿAbdudi made a speech to his people. ‘Oh my people,’ he said. ‘Things may not be, tomorrow, as they are today. I urge you to be thankful to Him Who is the Source of all goodness, to safeguard your sanctuary, to uphold good qualities, to hold back from reminding others of your favors, to maintain chivalry, which is the essence of honor, to reject the humiliation that leads to self-destruction. Do not hasten to war, for this leads to the loss of souls; but, if attacked against your will, face the assault firmly, and do not ever be deceived by uncertainty, for war has uncertainties and desires such as can blind men’s eyes. Beware the deception of wars, for it may destroy your authority and deprive you of glory. Remember you are the holders of old kingdoms and the masters of wars, whereas the sons of Israel and the Byzantines are violators of kingdoms and wars. If you lose the war, your ancient kingdom will be destroyed, and, the moment it falls, your people will be wiped out. Endure, then, and God will grant you life.’

  “Then King ʿAmr attacked them with his men and they attacked us. We fought long together, and we crushed them with our swords, and won the battle that was called the Day of Shunayf. And King ʿAmr seized Faran ibn Yaʿqub on a hill and killed him, and that hill has since been called the Hill of Faran … After that he pursued them to Jerusalem, and at last they gave him their obedience and restored to him the crown of the kingdom.

  “One of their women, named Barrah bint Shamʿun, was very beautiful; no other woman of the progeny of Yusuf ibn Yaʿqub [Joseph, son of Jacob] could be compared to her. Dressed in her finery and jewels, she was sent to King ʿAmr, who, when he saw her, was utterly smitten; and he married her. This, though, was a ruse the sons of Israel had hatched against the king. When Barrah was alone with King ʿAmr, she asked him: ‘Did I give you satisfaction?’ ‘Yes,’ he answered. ‘Then give satisfaction to me,’ she said. ‘I am in your hands,’ he replied. ‘What is your wish?’ ‘Let my people be,’ she said, ‘and do them no harm. They have asked me to intercede for them.’ ‘Your wish is granted,’ he said. And so he let them be and returned to Mecca, but he took with him as hostages a hundred wellborn men from the sons of Israel, along with their women and children … Then ʿAmr’s wife, Barrah bint Shamʿun, having made ready strong camels and men to take her back to Jerusalem, placed a piece of sharp, poisoned iron in his bed; and, when ʿAmr lay down in his bed, he was wounded by the iron and died. With that she swiftly fled, along with the hundred men who had been taken as hostages. Knowing they had no option but to pass by the Hill of Faran, I went there with the horsemen of Jurhum and ʿImlaq. When they arrived, I arrested them all and brought them back to Mecca. There I buried King ʿAmr … and gave orders for the prisoners to be executed. I was crowned king, and then I launched a campaign against the sons of Israel, the Byzantines, and the non-Arabs of Syria. Leading a hundred thousand men from Jurhum, and a further hundred thousand from ʿImlaq, I fought against them and defeated them all … After that I was minded to kill Barrah, but she claimed she had been tricked at the king’s court, that it was the chief among the sons of Israel, the first man to be executed, who had come to the king and done what was done, without her knowledge. ‘How, indeed, could I have done such a thing,’ she said, ‘when I am pregnant by him?’ I ordered the midwives [to examine her] and they confirmed what she had said. ʿAmr had had just two daughters and no male offspring. When I was sure she was pregnant, I took pity on her and sent her inside the palace, placing her under guard; and finally she gave birth to a boy, whom I named Midad, after his grandfather. When he grew up, he was the handsomest young man there ever was. I thought once more of killing Barrah, but I feared her son might take vengeance on me. I would, I decided, leave the matter to him; let him deal with his mother over the matter of his father …”

  When we reached Mecca, he asked me to go with him to the olive orchards.

  “Son,” he said, “when someone renders you a service, you must thank him; and you have rendered me a great service. Let me, then, thank you and give you a piece of advice. I shall tell you, son, what will protect you. You should understand that what brings you knowledge is better than what brings you wealth. Has a boy named Muhammad been born to the sons of the tribe of Mudar?”

  “No,” I said.

  “Then he will be born,” he said, “and his time will come and his
faith will be exalted. Should you be living at that time, then truly you must believe what he says, and must kiss the mole between his two shoulders, may peace be upon him. And you must say to him: ‘You, who are the best born man proclaiming the great worshipped God! …’ ”

  Al-Harith ibn Midad then asked me if we had reached the two olive trees, and I told him we had. He asked me to help him dismount and to take him to these trees. Between them was a great, well-chiseled rock, in the form of a cube, and this he went around, touching all its sides. Then he said:

  “Son, this place is called the Place of Death.”

  With that he wept till his face and beard were wet with his tears.

  Next morning he asked me to walk on with him till we reached a rock laid over another rock, with a narrow opening between them. Holding my arm, he moved the rock, and I saw a path beneath the earth, with snakes hissing to the left and right. We walked inside till our way was blocked by a further rock overlaid by a rock. He took hold of my shoulder and entered, placed his left hand beneath the rock, and turned it over; and we saw another path. He took a firm grip of my shoulder to stop me from fleeing. On we walked, till we reached a room filled with light, though where this light came from I could not tell.

  “Have no fear of what you see,” he told me. “You will come out safely, and from your progeny many tribes will walk the earth.”

  There came out a black dragon with red eyes, turning around the room, like a huge mountain. I entered the room and saw four beds there. On three of them lay three dead men, while the fourth was empty. [The three dead men were his father, grandfather and great-grandfather. The fourth bed was to be his.] In the middle of the room was a sack of pearls, rubies, silver, and gold.