He then said, “These verses are by Ibn al-Furayʿah, Ḥassān ibn Thābit, composed about us—our rule and our dwellings on the fringes of the Ghūṭah of Damascus.”
He resumed, then fell silent for a long while, after which he said to the girls, “Make me weep.”
So they laid aside their lutes, lowered their heads, and chanted:
The nobles turned Christian for the shame of a single slap,
Yet had I but endured it, no harm would have come.
Stubborn pride and tribal zeal engulfed me;
I bartered a sound eye for blindness.
Would that my mother had never borne me, would that
I had accepted the judgment Umar pronounced!
Would that I were herding pregnant camels in a trackless waste,
Or held in chains among the clans of Rabiʿah or Muḍar!
Would that in Syria I had the humblest livelihood,
Ranging among my people though deaf and blind!
I would follow the law they follow,
For even an old trunk can still endure the boring worm. (1)
He said: “He put his hand over his face and wept until his beard was soaked with tears, and I wept with him.
“Then he ordered that five hundred Heraclean dinars be brought and said, ‘Take these and deliver them to Ḥassān ibn Thābit.’
“He produced another equal sum and said, ‘Take these for yourself.’
“I replied, ‘I have no need of them; I will accept nothing from you after your apostasy from Islam.’
“It is related that he added that amount to Ḥassān’s share and sent him a full thousand Heraclean dinars.
“He then said to me, ‘Convey my greetings to ʿUmar ibn al-Khaṭṭāb and to all the Muslims.’
“When I reached ʿUmar I informed him of what had happened. He asked, ‘Did you see him drinking wine?’
“I answered, ‘Yes.’
“He said, ‘May Allah cast him far away! He has traded what is perishable for what endures; his bargain has yielded no profit.’
“He then asked, ‘What did he send to Ḥassān?’
“I said, ‘Five hundred Heraclean dinars.’ So he summoned Ḥassān and handed them to him.
“Ḥassān accepted them and departed, reciting:
The son of Jafna is the remnant of a clan
Whose forefathers were never censured for disgrace;
He forgot me not in Syria when he ruled it,
Nor yet when he turned Christian among the Byzantines.
He gives in abundance and deems it
No more than a trifle beside the gift of one reproached. (2)
I once came to him; he drew me close to his seat
And poured for me till I was drenched from the great horn. (3)