Al-Bidayah wa an-Nihayah - Ibn Kathir - (6/274)

Al-Bidayah wa an-NihayahIbn Kathir

“I was granted victory through awe for the distance of a month’s march.”(1)
This was part of the divine support and triumph that Allah bestowed upon him: his enemy would be seized with fear while still a month’s journey away from him. Another report states that whenever he resolved to campaign against a people, they were gripped by terror a full month before he reached their territory. May Allah’s blessings and peace ever rest upon him, until the Day of Judgment.

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Among the traditions proving that he foretold events exactly as they later occurred is the story we have already cited concerning the document in which the clans of Quraysh pledged themselves to boycott the clans of Hāshim and al-Muṭṭalib—they would neither shelter them, nor intermarry with them, nor trade with them—until they delivered the Messenger of Allah ﷺ into their hands.

Banū Hāshim and Banū al-Muṭṭalib, both their Muslims and their polytheists, therefore withdrew into the ravine of Abū Ṭālib, outraged by the pact and determined to resist it for as long as they lived, generation after generation.

On that occasion Abū Ṭālib composed his famous Lāmīyah ode, saying:

“You lie—by the Lord of the Ka‘bah—if you suppose
that we will ever disown Muhammad,
while we have yet to fight and strive on his behalf.

We would surrender him only when we are struck down around him,
forgetting our sons and our wives.

No people—may you be fatherless—forsake a chief
who guards their honour, staunch and vigilant.

A radiant man whose very face bids the clouds release their rain,
protector of the orphans, refuge of the widows.

Those near destruction from the clan of Hāshim seek shelter with him,
and with him they live in bounty and favour.”

Quraysh had suspended the covenant scroll from the roof of the Ka‘bah. Allah then sent upon it a kind of book-worm, which consumed everything in it that bore His names so that His sacred names would not remain beside the wrongdoing and lewdness it contained. Another account says that the worm devoured everything in it except the names of Allah. The Messenger of Allah ﷺ informed his uncle Abū Ṭālib of this. Abū Ṭālib went to Quraysh and said, “My nephew has told me something about your scroll: Allah has caused the worm to eat it, leaving nothing in it save the names of Allah. Produce it; if what he says is true I will not hand him over to you, but if it is false I will surrender him to you.”

They brought down the scroll, opened it, and found it exactly as the Messenger of Allah ﷺ had said. They thereupon annulled their decree, and Banū Hāshim and Banū al-Muṭṭalib returned to Mecca and resumed their previous state, as we have already related. Praise belongs to Allah.

Another illustration is the ḥadith of Khabbāb ibn al-Aratt: he and others of the oppressed came to seek the Prophet’s ﷺ aid while he was reclining on his cloak in the shade of the Ka‘bah. He supplicated for them because of the torment and humiliation they were enduring; then he sat up, his face flushed, and said:

(1) Sahih al-Bukhari, no. 335 (Kitab at-Tayammum); Sahih Muslim, no. 521 (Kitab al-Masājid). (2) In manuscript A it reads “nabzī,” which should be emended to “naqhar”; in another copy it appears as “yubzī.” (3) See above, section on the sīrah (Prophetic biography).

مسيرةَ شهر" (١) وهذا من التأييد والنصر الذي آتاه اللّه – Exalté soit-Il – ، وكان عدوّه يخافُه وبينه وبينه مسيرة شهر، وقيل: كان إذا عزمَ على غزو قومٍ أُرعبوا قبل مجيئه إليهم، ووروده عليهم بشهر، صلواتُ اللّه وسلامه عليه دائمًا إلى يوم الدين. [فصل] وأما الأحاديث الدّالة على إخباره بما وقعَ كما أخبر، فمن ذلك ما أسلفنَاه في قصة الصحيفة التي تعاقدت فيها بطونُ قريش، وتمالؤوا على بني هاشم وبني المطلب ألا يُؤووهم، ولا يُناكحوهم، ولا يُبايعوهم، حتى يُسلموا إليهم رسولَ الله ﷺ . فدخلت بنو هاشم وبنو المطلب، بمُسلمهم وكافرهم شِعبَ أبي طالب آنِفِينَ لذلك مُمتنعينَ منه أبدًا، ما بَقُوا دائمًا، ما تَناسلوا وتَعاقبوا. وفي ذلك عمل أبو طالب قصيدته اللامية التي يقول فيها: كذَبتُم وَبَيتِ اللّه نبزي (٢) مُحَمَّدًا … وَلَمَّا نُقَاتِل دُونَهُ وَنُنَاضِل ونُسلِمُهُ حَتَّى نُصَرَّعَ حَولَهُ … ونَذهَلَ عَنْ أَبنائِنَا والحَلائِلِ وَمَا تَرْكُ قَومٍ لَا أبا لَكَ سَيّدًا … يَحُوطُ الذِّمَارَ غيرَ ذَرْبٍ مُواكِلِ وَأَبيضَ يُستَسْقى الغَمامُ بِوَجْهِهِ … ثِمَالُ اليتَامَى عِصْمَةٌ لِلأرامِلِ يَلوذُ بِهِ الهُلّاكُ مِن آلِ هاشِمٍ … فَهُمْ عِنْدَهُ في نِعْمةٍ وَفَواضِلِ وكانت قريشٌ قد علَّقت صحيفة التعاقد في سقف الكعبة، فسلَّطَ اللّه عليها الأَرَضةَ فأكلت ما فيها من أسماء الله، لئلا يجتمعَ بما فيها من الظلم والفجور، وقيل: إنها أكلتْ ما فيها إِلَّا أسماء الله – Exalté soit-Il – ، فأخبرَ بذلك رسولُ اللّه ﷺ عمَّه أبا طالب، فجاء أبو طالب إلى قريش فقال: إن ابن أخي قد أخبرَني بخيرٍ عن صحيفَتكم، فإن اللّه قد سقَطَ عليها الأرَضة فأكلتهَا إِلَّا ما فيها من أسماء اللّه، أو كما قال: فأحْضِرُوها، فإن كان كما قال وإلا أسلمتُه إليكم، فانزلُوها ففتحوها فإذا الأمرُ كما أخبرَ به رسولُ الله ﷺ فعند ذلك نقضُوا حكمَها ودخلتْ بنو هاشم وبنو المطلب مكة، ورجعوا إلى ما كانوا عليه قبل ذلك، كما أسلفنا (٣) ذكرَه، ولله الحمد. ومن ذلك حديثُ خبَّاب بن الأرت، حين جاء هو وأمثالهُ من المستضعفين يَستنصرون النبيَّ ﷺ ، وهو يتوَسَّدُ رداءَه في ظلِّ الكعبة فيدعو لهم لما هم فيه من العذاب والإهانة، فجلسَ مُحْمَرًا وجهُه وقال:

(١) رواه البخاري في صحيحه رقم (٣٣٥) في التيمم، ومسلم في صحيحه رقم (٥٢١) في المساجد. (٢) كذا في (أ)، و "نبزي": نقهر. وفى نسخة "يُبْزى". (٣) تقدم ذلك في قسم السيرة النبوية.