Personal Narrative of a Pilgrimage to Al-Madinah & Meccah — Volume 1Burton, Richard Francis, Sir
ReligionIslamic
Personal Narrative of a Pilgrimage to Al-Madinah & Meccah — Volume 1
Burton, Richard Francis, Sir
Arabian Peninsula -- Description and travel
All the children of Amru thus dispersed into different parts of Arabia.
His eldest son, Salabah bin Amru, chose Al-Hijaz, settled at
Al-Madinah, then in the hands of the impious Benu Israel, and became
the father of the Aus and Khazraj. In course of time, the new comers
were made by Allah an instrument of vengeance against the disobedient
Jews. Of the latter people, the two tribes Kurayzah and Nazir claimed
certain feudal rights (well known to Europe) upon all occasions of Arab
marriages. The Aus and the Khazraj, after enduring this indignity for a
time, at length had recourse to one of their kinsmen who, when the
family dispersed, had settled in Syria. Abu Jubaylah, thus summoned,
marched an army to Al-Madinah, avenged the honour of his blood, and
destroyed the power of the Jews, who from that moment became Mawali, or
clients to the Arabs.
For a time the tribes of Aus and Khazraj, freed from the common enemy,
lived in peace and harmony. At last they fell into feuds and fought
with fratricidal strife, until the coming of the Prophet effected a
reconciliation between them. This did not take place, however, before
the Khazraj received, at the battle of Buas (about A.D. 615), a decided
defeat from the Aus.
It is also related, to prove how Al-Madinah was predestined to a high
fate, that nearly three centuries before the siege of the town by Abu
Jubaylah, the Tobba
[p.350]al-Asghar[FN#17] marched Northward, at the requisition of the
Aus and Khazraj tribes, in order to punish the Jews; or, according to
others, at the request of the Jews to revenge them upon the Aus and
Khazraj. After capturing the town, he left one of his sons to govern
it, and marched onwards to conquer Syria and Al-Irak.
Suddenly informed that the people of Al-Madinah had treacherously
murdered their new prince, the exasperated Tobba returned and attacked
the place; and, when his horse was killed under him, he swore that he
would never decamp before razing it to the ground. Whereupon two Jewish
priests, Ka'ab and Assayd, went over to him and informed him that it
was not in the power of man to destroy the town, it being preserved by
Allah, as their books proved, for the refuge of His Prophet, the
descendant of Ishmael.[FN#18]
The Tobba Judaized. Taking four hundred of the priests with him, he
departed from Al-Madinah, performed pilgrimage to the Ka'abah of
Meccah, which he invested with a splendid covering[FN#19]; and, after
erecting a house
[p.351]for the expected Prophet, he returned to his capital in
Al-Yaman, where he abolished idolatry by the ordeal of fire. He treated
his priestly guests with particular attention, and on his death-bed he
wrote the following tetrastich:-
"I testify of Ahmad that he of a truth
"Is a prophet from Allah, the Maker of souls.
Be my age extended into his age,
I would be to him a Wazir and a cousin."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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