anyone who believes in Allah would drink something that robs him of his senses so that he no longer recognizes his Lord—Mighty and Majestic. Rather, come and cut it off.” So they amputated it at the knee while he remained silent, uttering no word, and he did not even realise that he had groaned.
It is also related that they amputated it while he was engaged in prayer, and because he was absorbed in the prayer he felt nothing; Allah knows best.
That same night, a little son of his named Muḥammad, the dearest of his children, fell from the roof and died. They entered to console him, and he said:
“O Allah, to You belongs all praise. They were seven, and You have taken one while leaving six; and I had four limbs, and You have taken one while leaving three. If You have taken, You have surely given, and if You have tried me, You have indeed granted well-being. (1)
So to You belongs praise for what You have taken and for what You have given.”
It is also said that when he saw his amputated leg in the basin he remarked, “Allah knows that I never once used it to walk toward any act of disobedience.” (2)
[I say:] More than one narrator has mentioned that when ʿUrwah ibn al-Zubayr set out from Madinah for Damascus to meet al-Walīd, the eating ulcer struck his leg in a valley near Madinah; that was its beginning. Thinking nothing serious would come of it, he continued on his way, but he did not reach Damascus until it had consumed half of his shin. He entered upon al-Walīd, who gathered physicians skilled in such matters. They agreed unanimously that unless the leg were amputated the ulcer would eat the whole of it up to the hip, and might even rise into the body and devour it.
His heart became content with having it sawn off. They said to him, “Shall we give you a sedative (3) so that your mind departs and you will not feel the pain of the sawing?”
He replied, “No, by Allah! I never imagined anyone would drink or eat something that removes his mind. However, if you must proceed, then do so while I am in prayer, for I will not feel it nor be aware of it.”
So they sawed off his leg above the ulcer, in healthy flesh as a precaution lest anything of it remain, while he stood praying. He neither writhed nor flinched. When he finished the prayer, al-Walīd expressed his sympathy for the loss of the leg, and ʿUrwah said:
“O Allah, to You belongs all praise. I had four limbs and You have taken one. If You have taken, You have also spared; and if You have afflicted, You have so often granted well-being. To You belongs praise for what You have taken and for what You have spared.”
Among the children who travelled with him was his son Muḥammad, the most beloved to him. The boy entered the stables, where a horse kicked him and he died. They came and offered ʿUrwah condolences, and he said:
“Praise be to Allah! They were seven, and He has taken one and left six. If He has tried, He has so often granted well-being; and if He has taken, He has so often given.”
When he had finished his business in Damascus, he returned to Madinah. We never heard him mention his leg or his son, nor complain about that to anyone, until we entered Wādī al-Qurā. When he reached the very spot where the ulcer had first struck him, he said:
“Indeed, we have certainly suffered fatigue in this journey of ours.” (Q 18:62)
When he entered Madinah the people came to greet him and to offer condolences for his leg and his son, and news reached him that