The Expeditions. Maʿmar ibn Rāshid

said.

      “Do you,” he asked, “hold me in any suspicion?”

      “No,” they said.

      He said, “Do you not know that I called the people of ʿUkāẓ to your aid? When they failed to heed me, did I not come to you with my family, my sons, and whoever else would obey me?”⁵⁹

      “Aye,” they said.

      He said, “This man has offered you an upright course of action, so accept it and allow me to go see him.”

      “Go to him, then,” they said.

      So he went.

      2.3.3

      قال: فجعل يكلّم النبيّ صلّى الله عليه وسلّم، فقال رسول الله صلّى الله عليه وسلّم نحوًا من قوله ببديل. فقال عروة عند ذلك: أي محمّد! أرأيت إنْ استأصلتْ قومك؟ هل سمعتَ بأحد^١ من العرب اجتاح أصله قبلك؟ وإنْ تكن الأخرى، فإنّي لا أرى^٢ وجوهًا وأرى أشوابًا من الناس خليقًا أن يفرّوا عنك.

      فقال أبو بكر رحمه الله ورضي عنه: امْصُصْ بَظْرَ اللَّات! أنحن نفرّ عنه وندعه؟

      فقال: من ذا؟

      قال: أبو بكر.

      قال: أما والّذي نفسي بيده، لولا^٣ يد لك عندي لم أَجْزِك بها لأجبتُك.

      قال: وجعل يكلّم النبيّ صلّى الله عليه وسلّم، فكلَّما كلَّمه،^٤ أخذ بلحيته، والمغيرة بن شعبة قائم على رأس النبيّ صلّى الله عليه وسلّم ومعه السيف وعليه المِغْفَر. فكلَّما أهوى عروة يده إلى لحية النبيّ صلّى الله عليه وسلّم، ضرب يده بنعل السيف وقال: أخّر يدك عن لحية رسول الله صلّى الله عليه وسلّم.

      فرفع عروة رأسه، فقال: من هذا؟

      فقالوا: المغيرة بن شعبة.

      فقال: أي غُدَرُ، أولستَ أسعى في غدرتك؟

      وكان المغيرة بن شعبة صحب قومًا في الجاهليّة، فقتلهم وأخذ أموالهم. ثمّ جاء فأسلم، فقال رسول الله صلّى الله وسلم: أَمّا الإسلام فأقبل. أمّا المال، فلستُ منه في شيء.^٥

      ثمّ إنّ عروة جعل يرمق صحابة النبيّ صلّى الله عليه وسلّم بعينيه. قال: فوالله ما تنخّم رسول الله صلّى الله عليه وسلّم نخامةً إلّا وقعت في يد رجل منهم. فدلّك بها وجـهه وجلده. وإذا أمرهم، ابتدروا أَمره. وإذا توضّأ، كادوا يقتتلون على وضوئه. وإذا تكلّموا، خفضوا أصواتهم عنده وما يحدّون إليه النظر^٦ تعظيمًا له.

      فرجع عروة إلى أصحابه، فقال: أي قوم! والله لقد وفدت على الملوك ووفدت^٧ على قيصر وكسرى والنجاشيّ. والله إنْ رأيت ملكًا قطّ يعظّمه أصحابه ما يعظّم أصحاب محمّد صلّى الله عليه وسلّم محمّدًا. والله إنْ تنخّم نخامةً إلّا وقعت في كفّ رجل منهم، فدلّك بها وجـهه وجلده. وإذا أمرهم، ابتدروا أمره. وإذا توضّأ، كادوا يقتتلون على وضوئه. وإذا تكلّموا، خفضوا أصواتهم عنده وما يحدّون إليه النظر تعظيمًا له. وإنّه قد عرض عليكم خطّة رشد، فاقبلوها. فقال رجل من كنانة: دعوني آتِه. فقالوا: ائتِه.

      ١ ح، ط؛ [بأحد] ساقطة من مم.

      ٢ ح ؛ مم، ط: : لأرى.

      ٣ ح، ط؛ مم: ألا.

      ٤ بخ: تكلم كلمة.

      ٥ ط؛ [في شيء] ساقطة من مم.

      ٦ ط؛ [النظر] ساقطة من مم.

      ٧ ط؛ مم: رفدت.

      So ʿUrwah conversed with the Prophet, and the Messenger of God said more or less what he had said to Budayl. At that point, ʿUrwah said, “O Muḥammad! Have you not considered what will happen if your people come to ruin? Have you ever heard of any other Arab before you who so devastated his people? And if that doesn’t come to pass, I see no men of renown here—I see only a motley group of people apt to forsake you.”

      “Go suck on Allāt’s clit!” interjected Abū Bakr. “Are we the sort to forsake him and leave him?”

      “Who is that?” demanded ʿUrwah.

      “Abū Bakr,” the Prophet said.

      “By Him in Whose hand my soul resides!” replied ʿUrwah. “Were it not for my respect for you, I would have surely retaliated!”

      ʿUrwah resumed his conversation with the Prophet, and as he was speaking to him, he grabbed hold of the Prophet’s beard. Now al-Mughīrah ibn Shuʿbah was standing right next to the Prophet, armed with a sword and wearing a helmet. Whenever ʿUrwah would reach out his hand to grasp the Prophet’s beard, al-Mughīrah would hit his hand with the hilt of the sword and exclaim, “Remove your hand from the beard of God’s Messenger!”

      ʿUrwah lifted his head and asked, “Who’s this?”

      “Al-Mughīrah ibn Shuʿbah,” they answered.

      “What a scoundrel!” ʿUrwah exclaimed. “Why, you’ve been most keen to pursue your treachery!”

      Now, while a disbeliever, al-Mughīrah ibn Shuʿbah had entered into the company of a clan whose members he later murdered and robbed of their wealth.⁶⁰ Afterward he came to Medina and became a Muslim. The Messenger of God said, “As for your submission to God, I accept it. As for the property you stole, I have no part in that.”

      Then ʿUrwah began to look around at the companions of the Prophet, staring at them wide-eyed. “By God,” he said, “when the Messenger of God hawks up his phlegm, one of these men catches it in his hand and smears it on his face and skin. And when he commands them to do something, they hasten to accomplish his orders. And when he performs his ablutions, they nearly kill themselves over the ablution water. Whenever they speak, they lower their voices before him, and out of deference to him, they never look him in the eye.”

      ʿUrwah returned to his companions and said, “O people! By God, I have been sent as an emissary to kings, sent as an emissary to Caesar, Khosroes, and the Negus!⁶¹ By God, I have never seen a king whose