Al-Bidayah wa an-Nihayah - Ibn Kathir - (3/242)

Al-Bidayah wa an-NihayahIbn Kathir

“…and lower your wing to those who follow you among the believers.” (26:215)

The Messenger of Allah ﷺ said:

“I knew that if I presented this matter to my people outright I would face from them what I disliked, so I kept silent. Then Gabriel, peace be upon him, came to me and said, ‘O Muḥammad, if you do not carry out what your Lord has commanded you, He will punish you with the Fire.’”

ʿAlī (may Allah be pleased with him) continues: He then called me and said, “O ʿAlī, Allah has ordered me to warn my near relatives. [I knew that if I confronted them with this I would see from them what I disliked, so I kept silent; then Gabriel came to me and said, ‘O Muḥammad, if you do not do what you have been commanded, your Lord will punish you.’] So, O ʿAlī, prepare for us a leg of mutton with a sāʻ-measure of food, and ready for us a large bowl of milk, then gather for me the sons of ʿAbd al-Muṭṭalib.”

I did as he asked, and that day they assembled—forty men, give or take one. Among them were his uncles Abū Ṭālib, Ḥamzah, al-ʿAbbās, and Abū Lahab the vile unbeliever. I set the dish before them, and the Messenger of Allah ﷺ took a small piece from it, bit into it with his teeth, scattered the remainder around the platter, and said, “Eat, in the name of Allah.” The men ate until they were completely satisfied; we saw nothing but the marks of their fingers, though, by Allah, a single one of them could have eaten that very amount himself.

Then the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said, “Give them drink, O ʿAlī.” So I brought the wooden bowl and they drank from it until all were satiated; by Allah, any one of them could have drunk what they had just drunk. When the Messenger of Allah ﷺ was about to address them, Abū Lahab—may Allah curse him—jumped in and said, “This is nothing but sorcery with which your companion has bewitched you!” The gathering broke up and the Messenger of Allah ﷺ did not get a chance to speak to them.

The next day the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said, “O ʿAlī, prepare for us again what you prepared for us yesterday of food and drink, for that man forestalled me with what you heard before I could address the people.” I did so and gathered them once more. The Messenger of Allah ﷺ did exactly as he had done the previous day: they ate until full, then I gave them drink from that same bowl until they were satisfied—by Allah, any one of them could have eaten and drunk the like of it.

Then the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said:

“O sons of ʿAbd al-Muṭṭalib, by Allah, I do not know of any young man among the Arabs who has brought his people something better than what I have brought you. I have come to you with the matter of this world and the Hereafter.”

Al-Bayhaqī relates this through the chain of Yūnus ibn Bukayr, from Ibn Isḥāq, from an unnamed shaykh, from ʿAbd Allāh ibn al-Ḥārith.

Abū Jaʿfar Ibn Jarīr likewise transmits it—through Muḥammad ibn Ḥumayd al-Rāzī, from Salamah ibn al-Faḍl al-Abrash, from Muḥammad ibn Isḥāq, from ʿAbd al-Ghaffār Abū Maryam ibn al-Qāsim, from al-Minhāl ibn ʿAmr, from ʿAbd Allāh ibn al-Ḥārith, from Ibn ʿAbbās, from ʿAlī—with similar wording.

He adds, after the Prophet’s words, “I have brought you the good of this world and the Hereafter, and Allah has commanded me to call you to it. Which of you will support me in this matter so that he may be my brother—” and so on. He said: so they held back

(1) “badah”: to reveal or manifest. It appears as barizahu and kashafahu when referring to a person, and as badiyatuhu and jaliyatuhu in the same sense. The hadith in which he ordered that people be mubadi his command—that is, that he make it manifest to them—derives from this root. See Al-Asas wa al-Nihaya, s.v. bdy. (2) “al-ass”: a large drinking goblet. See Al-Misbah, s.v. assas. (3) “al-hudhiyah”: a cut of meat similar to the hidhwah; it takes a final ya. (4) In manuscripts H and T the passage is repeated over approximately five and a half lines, likely a copyist’s oversight. (5) See his History of Nations and Kings (Tarikh al-Umam wa al-Muluk), 2:319.

جَنَاحَكَ لِمَنِ اتَّبَعَكَ مِنَ الْمُؤْمِنِينَ﴾. قال رسولُ الله ﷺ : "عرَفْتُ أنِّي إنْ بادَيْتُ (١) بها قومي رأيتُ منهم ما أكره فصمتُّ، فجاءني جبريلُ (عليه السلام) فقال: يا محمد، إنْ لم تفعل ما أمَرَكَ به رَبُّكَ عذَّبَكَ بالنار" . قال [علي] : فدعاني فقال: "يا عليّ إن الله قد أمرني أن أُنذِرَ عشيرتي الأقربين [فعرفتُ أني إنْ باديتهم بذلك رأيتُ منهم ما أكره، فصمتُّ من ذلك، ثم جاءني جبريل فقال: يا محمد، إن لم تفعل ما أُمرت به عذبك ربُّك] ، فاصْنَعْ لنا يا علي [رِجل] شاة على صاعٍ من طعام، وأعِدَّ لنا عُسَّ لبنٍ (٢) ، ثم اجمعْ لي بني عبد المطلب" . ففعلت فاجتمعوا له يومئذٍ وهم أربعون رجلًا يزيدون رجلًا أو ينقصون، فيهم أعمامه أبو طالب، وحمزة، والعباس، وأبو لهب الكافر الخبيث، فقدَّمتُ إليهم تلك الجَفْنَة فأخذ رسولُ الله ﷺ منها حِذْيَةً (٣) فشقَّها بأسنانه ثم رمى بها في نواحيها وقال: "كلُوا بسم الله" . فأكل القوم حتى نَهِلُوا عنه، ما نرَى إلا آثارَ أصابعِهم، والله إنْ كان الرجلُ ليأكلُ مثلَها. ثم قال رسولُ الله ﷺ : "اسْقِهِمْ يا عليّ" (٤) . فجئتُ بذلك القَعْب، فشربوا منه حتى نَهِلُوا جميعًا، وايْمُ الله إنْ كان الرجل منهم ليشربُ مثله، فلما أراد رسول الله أن يكلمهم، بدَرَهُ أبو لهب -لعنه الله- إلى الكلام فقال: لهدَّ ما سحركم صاحبكم؟ فتفرَّقُوا ولم يكلِّمْهُمْ رسولُ الله ﷺ . فلمَّا كان من الغد قال رسول الله ﷺ : "يا عليُّ عُدْ لنا بمثل الذي كنتَ صنعتَ لنا بالأمسِ من الطعام والشراب، فإنَّ هذا الرجلَ قد بَدَرَني إلى ما سمعتَ قبلَ أنْ أكلِّمَ القوم" ففعلتُ، ثم جمعتُهم له. فصنع رسولُ الله ﷺ كما صنع بالأمس فأكلوا حتى نَهِلُوا عنه، ثم سقَيْتُهم من ذلك القَعْب حتى نهِلوا عنه، وايْمُ الله إنْ كان الرجلُ ليأكلُ مثلها ويشربُ مثلها. ثم قال رسول الله ﷺ : "يا بني عبد المطَّلِب، إنِّي والله ما أعلمُ شابًّا من العرب جاء قومَهُ بأفضلَ ممَّا جئتكم به، إني قد جئتُكُم بأمْرِ الدُّنيا والآخرة" . هكذا رواه البيهقي من طريق يونس بن بُكَير، عن ابن إسحاق عن شيخ أبهم اسمَهُ، عن عبد الله بن الحارث به. وقد رواه أبو جعفر بن جرير (٥) ، عن محمد بن حُميد الرازي، عن سلمة بن الفضل الأبرش، عن محمد بن إسحاق عن عبد الغفار أبي مريم بن القاسم، عن المنهال بن عمرو عن عبد الله بن الحارث، عن ابن عباس، عن علي، فذكر مثله. وزاد بعد قوله: "وإني قد جئتُكم بخيرِ الدنيا والآخرة، وقد أمَرَني الله أنْ أدْعُوَكم إليه، فأيُّكم يؤازرُني على هذا الأمر على أنْ يكونَ أخي" وكذا وكذا. قال: فأحجم

(١) "باداه": بارزه، وكاشفتُ الرجل وباديته وجاليته بمعنى، ومنه الحديث أنه أمر أن يُبَادِي الناسَ بأمره؛ أي يظهره لهم. الأساس والنهاية (بدي). (٢) "العس": القدح الكبير. المصباح (عسس). (٣) "الحذية": القطعة من اللحم كالحِذْوة اللسان (حذا) واوية يائية. (٤) في ح، ط تكرار بمقدار خمسة أسطر ونصف، لعلها سهو من الناسخ. (٥) في تاريخه تاريخ الأمم والملوك (٢/ ٣١٩).