of al-Ḥīrah, and they would bring its inhabitants down1 by force and coercion, or by treaty and ease. Among those2 who accepted a pact of peace was a group of Arab Christians that included the previously mentioned Ibn Buqayla. Khalid issued a written guarantee of safety for the people of al-Ḥīrah; the man3 who negotiated it with him was ʿAmr ibn ʿAbd al-Masīḥ ibn Buqayla4.
Khalid noticed that he was carrying a pouch and asked, “What is in this?” He opened it and found something inside. Ibn Buqayla said, “It is instant poison.” Khalid asked, “Why have you brought it with you?” He replied, “So that if I should witness some harm coming upon my people, I would swallow it; death would be dearer to me than that.”
Khalid took the pouch in his hand and said, “No soul will die before its appointed term has come.” Then he recited: “Bi-sm Allāh khayr al-asmāʾ, Rabb al-arḍ wa-l-samāʾ, alladhī lā yaḍurru maʿa ismihi dāʾ, al-Raḥmān al-Raḥīm—In the name of Allah, the best of names, Lord of earth and sky, with whose name no illness can harm, the All-Merciful, the Compassionate.” The commanders reached out to stop him, but he forestalled them and swallowed it. When Ibn Buqayla saw this he exclaimed, “By Allah, O assembly5 of Arabs, you will rule whatever you wish as long as even one of you remains alive!”
He then turned to the people of al-Ḥīrah and said, “I have never seen a clearer sign of good fortune than today.” They thereupon asked Khalid for peace; he granted it, wrote them a treaty, and took from them four hundred thousand dirhams in immediate payment. He would not finalize the pact, however, until they handed over Karāmah bint ʿAbd al-Masīḥ to a Companion named Shuwail6.
The reason was that, when the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, once described the palaces of al-Ḥīrah—saying their battlements were like the fangs of dogs—Shuwail had asked, “O Messenger of Allah, grant me the daughter of Buqayla,” and he replied, “She is yours.” When the city was taken, Shuwail claimed her, and two Companions testified for him. The townspeople refused, saying, “What do you want with a woman of eighty years?” She said to her people, “Hand me over to him, for I shall ransom myself; he7 once saw me when I was young.”
She was surrendered to him. Once alone with her she asked, “What do you want with an eighty-year-old woman? Let me ransom myself; set whatever sum you wish.” He said, “By Allah, I will not release you for less than ten hundred.” She thought the amount enormous—seeking thereby to trick him—then went to her people, who brought him one8 thousand dirhams. The people blamed him, saying, “Had you asked for more than one hundred thousand, they would have paid it.” He replied, “Is there any number greater than ten hundred?”
He then went to Khalid and said9, “I only meant the greatest number I could think of.” Khalid responded, “You intended one thing, and Allah intended another. We judge by what is outwardly stated, and your intention rests with Allah—whether you are lying or truthful10.”