VOL 5.13

Holders of Power after Ardashlr b. Babak

259

They imposed the poll tax on everyone except for people from

noble families, great men, warriors, herbadhs, secretaries, and

those in the king's service, and made them liable for it according

to four levels, of twelve, eight, six, and four dirhams accor ding to

the richness or poverty of the person in question . 625 The poll tax

Grignaschi used these sources in his closely argued article "La riforma tributaria

di Hosro I e il feudalesimo sassanide," 87-138, to which he appended the texts of

relevant extracts from the above-mentioned Sirat Anushirwan and the Nihayat al-

aiab bearing on Khusraw's reforms. The topic has been recently subjected to a

thoroughgoing analysis by Zeev Rubin in his "The Reforms of Khusro Anushir-

wan," 227-97. Rubin compares the relevant sections of al-Tabari, the Nihayah,

and al-Dinawari and notes that the account of the Nihayah is perceptibly less

favorable to Khusraw than al-Tabari's: instead of the vigorous, single-minded monarch of the latter historian, the Nihayah' s Khusraw emerges as a somewhat hesitant person who has to explain and justify his proposed reforms. All three accounts neverthless seem to go back to a common tradition put together in early 'Abbasid times within Shu'ubi circles.

The social and political chaos of the decades before Khusraw's accession were

obviously a stimulus for the fiscal reforms begun by Kawad and carried through by his son. Rubin also avers that we should examine the reforms against the back-

ground of the general economic situation of the Sasanid state. First, it benefited

from the commerce of the Orient, which had largely to pass through its territories

or through Indian Ocean and Arabian Sea waters which the Persian could controled en route for the Mediterranean world. Nor were the financial subsidies that the Byzantine empire had to pay as the price of peace in the Near East negligible contributions to the economic health of Persia. Second, the fiscal reforms should be considered together with Khusraw's military reforms, already examined byGeo Widengren as part of his general survey of the Persian army as a feudal force from Achaemenid to Sasanid times (see his "Recherches sur le feudalisme iranien," 151 - 74 - There is also particular detail on military affairs in the Sirat Anushirwan, see Grignaschi, "Quelques specimens de la literature sassanide conservde dans les biblioth&ques d'Istanbul," 20-21). Despite the envisaged rise in revenue yields envisaged by the reforms, there does not seem ever to have been enough money available to finance a large, professional army of mailed cavalrymen directly recruited and paid by the monarch and freeing him from dependence on the military services of the great noble families of Persia and their retinues. Hence there seems to have evolved the practice of bringing in manpower from non-Persian, mercenary sources, such as Turks and Hephthalites from Central Asia and Bactria, Daylamis from the Elburz mountain region, and Arabs from the desert fringes of Iraq.

Khusraw was here continuing a process already begun under Kawad, who had

regained his throne and been kept in power by the backing of Hephthalite mercen-

aries, links with the Hephthalites having been forged during his enforced exile

within their lands in the 490s.

Finally, the course and development of Khusraw's fiscal system are briefly

touched upon by Rubin. The system must have changed even within the course of

his long reign, and was already showing signs of decay by the end of that time. The control system of the provincial judges, in fact district mobadhs of the Zoroastrian state church (see al-Tabari, 1 , 963, p. 261 below) probably proved no less susceptible to corrupt practices than any other officials in a similar situation. Under Khusraw's son and successor Hormizd IV, the great military families of the provinces gained excessive opportunities for exploiting the peasantry, and Rubin specu- lates that Hormizd's reputed violence against the military aristocracy (see al- Tabari, 1 , 988-89, p. 295 below) may have been a desperate attempt to stem corruption and oppression and to salvage something of Khusraw's sytem. The

cataclysmic events toward the end of Khusraw n Abarwez's reign must have

plunged the system into deeper malfunction. It nevertheless survived intact

enough to be taken over by the Muslims when they overran Iraq and Persia, basi-

cally as the misahah system, but was at least in part converted into muqasamah in

the early ’Abbasid period, a reversion to the system before the reforms of Kawad

and Anusharwan. See Lokkegaard, Islamic Taxation in the Classic Period, 109-13.

i6o

Holders of Power after Ardashir b. Babak

was not to be levied on those below twenty or above fifty years of

age. They brought their tax assessments before Kisra; he approved

them and ordered them to be put into force and for tax collecting

to be done on their basis annually, in three installments each of

four months. These he called '.b.rds.ydi (?), meaning "an arrangement

mutually agreed upon by all." 626 It was these tax assessments

'Umar b. al-Khattab followed when he conquered the Persian

lands and levied taxation on the "protected peoples" [ahl al-

dhimmah ) there, except that he levied taxation on every uncultivated

( ghdmh ) piece of land according to its potential yield, at the

same rate as he levied on sown land. Also, he levied on every jarib

of land growing wheat or barley from one to two additional qaflzs

625. The poll tax (see n. 619 above) had previously been a fixed sum that the

assessors and collectors had had to divide out as best they could. The exemptions

for the royal family, aristocracy, soldiers (al-Dinawari, al-Akhbar al-tiwal, 71,

specifies here marazibah and asawiiah [al-Tabari has, less specifically, for these

two classes 'uzama' and muqatilah ] and kuttab), secretaries, and the Zoroastrian

priests increased their position as privileged castes. While the tax liabilities of the

middle and lower classes were theoretically meant to compensate for the royal

service and religious duties that they were unable to perform, in practice, payment

of these taxes amounted to an acknowledgment of social inferiority. As mentioned in n. 619 above, the existence of this Sasanid institution may have been a contributory factor when the nascent Islamic state evolved the poll tax ( jizyah ) and applied it to the Dhimmis as a mark of their social and religious degradation and secondclass citizenship compared with the Muslim Arabs, but this is speculative.

626. This term is wholly obscure. Al-Dinawari, al-Akhbar al-tiwal, 71, says

that the warehouses where the three installments of collected produce were stored

were called saray simarrah (text, shimarrah ), i.e., "house for the three (sic) times

[marrah) [of collection]"; cf. the loan word in Arabic samarja or samaraj, see Asya Asbaghi, Persische Lehnworter im Arabischen, 165: "Steuer in drei Stufen."

Holders of Power after Ardashir b. Babak 26 1

of wheat; this he used for feeding his army. 627 But in the specific

case of Iraq, 'Umar did not make any arrangements contrary to

those of Basra regarding the jaribs of land and regarding the date

palms, olive trees, and the heads [of those liable to the poll tax],

and he excluded from liability to taxation the people's means of

daily sustenance, as Kisra had done. 628

Kisra ordered the new tax assessments to be written down in

several copies. One copy was to be kept in his own chancery close

at his hand; one copy was sent to the land-tax collectors (' ummal

al-kharaj ) for them to collect taxation on its basis; and another

copy was sent to the judges of the administrative divisions ( qudat

al-kuwar). The judges were charged with the duty of intervening

between the tax collectors and the people if the tax collectors in

the administrative districts attempted to raise an additional sum

above the amount laid down in the master copy of the tax assessment

in the chancery, of which they had received a copy. Also, the

judges were to exempt from land tax those whose tillage or other

tax-attracting produce had been damaged or badly affected in any

way, according to the seriousness of that damage or defect. Regarding

 those persons liable for the poll tax who had died, or who

had passed the age of fifty, collecting the taxation was likewise

suspended; the judges were to write back to Kisra about the tax

exemptions here, which they had granted so that Kisra might issue

appropriate instructions to his tax collectors. Furthermore,

627. As with the jarib, the qafiz was a measure both of surface area |one-tenth of

a jarib, i.e., 360 square dhird' s or cubits, according to al-Khwarazmi, Mafatih

al-uldm, 66) and also one of capacity (ibid. 67—68, giving the varying equivalences of the basically Iraqi qafiz for different parts of the Persian lands, where the mana was the normal measure for capacity). See Ndldeke, trans. 246 n. 6; Bosworth, "Abu 'Abdallah al-Khwarazmi on the Technical Terms of the Secretary's Art," 148-50, citing information from W. Hinz, Islamische Masse und Gewichte um-gerechnet ins metrische System, 16-23.

628. On 'Umar's misdfyah, see Dennett, Conversion and the Poll Tax in Early

Islam, 22ff., and Lokkegaard, Islamic Taxation in the Classic Period, 119-20.

Regarding Umar's procedure over the land tax, there are actually contradictory

reports in the Arabic sources concerned with the postconquest Sawad of Iraq. Thus according to al-Mawardi, 'Umar imposed on the Sawad a flat rate of one dirham and one qafiz of produce for the provisioning of the Arab warriors (but in other parts of Iraq, the rate varied according to the crop); but according to Abu Yusuf, 'Umar taxed land according to the crop grown there. In reality, the disparity only arises, suggested Dennett, because the two viewpoints reflect changes in 'Umar's prescriptions here.

262

Holders of Power after Ardashlr b. Babak

the judges were not to let the tax collectors levy taxation on persons

aged less than twenty. 629

Kisra had appointed over the department of the warriors (dlwan

al-muqdtilah ) a man from the secretarial class who was outstanding

for his noble birth, martial virtues, sufficiency, and capability,

called Babak, son of ’.l.y.r.wan j?). 630 This last said to Kisra, "My

function cannot properly be carried out unless I have a free hand at

putting into practice what seems best to me for the good conduct

of the king's affairs in regard to his army." Kisra granted Babak

this. Babak now gave orders for the construction of a platform in

the place where army reviews were customarily held, carpets from

Susanjird and woolen rugs were laid on it, and cushions provided

for him to lean back upon. He then took up his place on all those

coverings.

Babak's herald now proclaimed throughout those troops present

in Kisra's army camp that the cavalrymen were to present themselves

before him for inspection on their mounts and with their

weapons, and the infantrymen with their requisite weapons. The

troops massed together in front of him in the manner Babak had

stipulated they were to parade, but he did not see Kisra present in

their ranks, so he told them to go back. His herald made the same

proclamation on the next day, and the troops gathered round him

again; but when he still could not discern Kisra among them, he

told them to go back and reappear before him next morning. He

instructed his herald to proclaim on the third day, "Let no one

present in the army camp lag behind, even if he is honored by

possessing a crown and a throne," for Babak had resolved that

there should be no exception in his favor and no partiality shown

to him (i.e., to Kisra). The message reached Kisra, and he placed

the crown on his head, girded on the weapons of a soldier, and then

went along to Babak so that he might present himself for inspection by him.

The equipment that a cavalryman of the army had to take along

with him comprised horse mail, soldier's mailed coat, breastplate,

629. These judges from the religious institution were presumably mobadhs who

administered the Zoroastrian church law ; here they are charged with protecting

the taxpayers from tyranny and exploitation by the taxcollectors.

630. Noldeke, trans. 247, though that this name might be BIrawan (?); it is

equally corruptly written in al-Dinawarl's passage on the Sasanid army review, al-

Akhbai al-tiwal, 72-73, as al-Nahrawan.

Holders of Power after Ardashlr b. Babak 263

leg armor plates, sword, lance, shield, mace, and, fastened at his

waist, a girdle, battle axe, or club, a bow case containing two bows

with their strings, thirty arrows, and finally, two plaited cords,

which the rider let hang down his back from his helmet. 631 Kisra

presented himself for inspection before Babak with his weapons

all complete except for the two cords he was supposed to tie on his

back. Babak did not pass over his name, but said to him, "O king,

you are standing in such a place where all are treated equally,

where no partiality on my part can be shown nor any relaxation!

So step forward with all the requisite kinds of weapons!" At that

point, Kisra remembered the matter of the two cords, so he let

them hang down.

Babak's herald now sang out in a loud voice, saying, "For the

brave warrior, lord of brave warriors, four thousand and one

dirhams," 632 and Babak passed over his name. Then the king returned

home. Now Babak used to give the king a pay rate superior

to that of the rest of the soldiers by one dirham. When Babak got

up from his seat [on the platform], he went to Kisra and told him,

"The lack of consideration that I showed you today, O king, was

only so that the function with which you charged me could be

thereby properly discharged, because the most secure way of

achieving the king's aim is his making my office as firmly based as

possible." Kisra replied, "We don't regard as any lack of consideration

for us a procedure that I desire for the furtherance of the

welfare of my subjects and by means of which the injury of an

injured person may be set right." 633

631. Noldeke, trans. 248 n. 2, noted that Firdawsi adds to the list the lassoo,

characteristic of steppe-dwelling herdsmen, and mentioned by Herodotus, VII. 83,

as a weapon of the Iranian tribe of the Sagartians, possibly to be located in north-

eastern Persia.

632. The "and one" is supplied from the parallel passage in al-Dinawari, al-

Akhbar al-%iwal, 73, as done by Noldeke in trans. 249, cf . n. 1, and noted in text, n. e ; without this amendment, the point made just afterward is lost.

633. Babak's r 61 e as head of the military department corresponds to that of the

'arid who presided over the department of the army, diwan al-jaysh, diwan al-

jund, in the 'Abbasid caliphate and the diwan al-'aid in such successor states to it

in the Persian lands as those of the Samanids, §affarids, Buyids, and Ghaznavids.

The institution of regular inspections of troops was probably an ancient one in

Persia. According to Widengren, in Achaemenid times, the Persian army had a

rallying point, apparently termed the *handaisa- < handez, corresponding to

Xenophon's exetasis, and there was a secretary, the reS dupSani Sa uqu who

fulfilled the rdle of Babak here. From the evidence of the Bablyonian Talmud, the

related term andesaq seems to have been used in Arsacid times. The account given here by al-Tabari and also by al-DInawari of the Sasanid army inspection is distinctly imaginative in its details, and can hardly be accepted as firm evidence for detailed Sasanid practice here. Yet it is likely that there was some department of the bureaucracy concerned with the army and its standard of effectiveness, and

precampaign inspections of the Persian army, in the presence of the monarch and

the commanders appointed to lead that expedition, are mentioned by Procopius

(Christensen, Sassanides, 213-14). The Sirat Anushirwan mentions these reviews

held by the emperor, and says that they took place in the presence of the qa’id or

commander, the padhguspan or commander-in-chief of the force (the later ispahbadh ), the qadi or judge, and a trusty secretary appointed directly by the king [amin min qibalina ). See Widengren, "Recherches sur le feudalisme iranien," i52ff. ; Grignaschi, "Quelques specimens de la literature sassanide conserv6e dans les bibliothfcques d'Istanbul," 20 and n. 48.

For the Islamic period, we have a detailed account of the 'aid as practiced in the

$affarid army under 'Amr b. al-Layth (r. 265-87/879-900) in which the Amir, like

Khusraw Anusharwan, had to be inspected by the 'arid and passed fit for service just like every other soldier. The authority for this is al-Sallami, author of a lost history of the governors of Khurasan, cited in Ibn Khallikan's Wafayat al-a'yan. Ibn Khallikan juxtaposes this with al-Tabari's account of the Sasanid inspection in the time of Anusharwan (actually cited via the historian of Aleppo Ibn al-'Adim), and notes the similarity between the two procedures. A modem historian like Barthold observed that the resemblances could hardly be coincidental. See Ibn Khallikan, Wafayat, VI, 42T-23, tr. de Slane, IV, 322-24; W. Barthold, Turkestan Down to the Mongol Invasion 3 , 221; Bosworth, "The Annies of the §affarids," 549-50.

264

Holders of Power after Ardashir b. Babak

Kisra now dispatched to Yemen an army under the command of

a man from the people of Yemen called Sayfan b. Ma'dI Karib —

some authorities aver, however, that he was called Sayf b. Dhi

Yazan — which killed the blacks there (i.e., the Abyssinians) and

conquered the land . 634 Having secured the submission of the land

of Yemen, Kisra sent one of his commanders, with a numerous

army, against Sarandib, the land of precious stones, in the land of

India . 635 The commander attacked its king, killed him, and seized

control of it, sending back from there to Kisra abundant wealth

and many jewels.

In the land of Persia there were no jackals [banat awa ), 636 but

634. This seems to be a purely Persian piece of historical information, perhaps

compressed by al-Tabari because of its contradictions with the story of Wahriz's

South Arabian expedition given by him at considerable length in 1 , 952-58, p. 245- 5 1 above. According to Noldeke, trans. 250 n. 1, we should correct the text's Sayfan (which in Persian would mean "son of Sayf") to Sayf b. Dhi Yazan.

635. Sarandib was the name given to the island of Ceylon in mediaeval Islamic

geographical and historical literature; see EP-, s.v. Sarandib (C. E. Bosworth). It was famed in Islamic lore for its supposed wealth. The story of a Sasanid conquest of Ceylon is, of course, pure legend.

636. The jackal ( canis aureus or anthus, in Persian, shaghal ) is in fact widely

distributed today in Persia. See Naval Intelligence Division. Admiralty Hand-

books, Persia, 209-10.

Holders of Power after Ardashlr b. Babak

265

some of them infiltrated into Persia from the land of the Turks

during the reign of Kisra Anusharwan. News of this reached Kisra,

and caused him anguish. He summoned the Chief Mobadh and

told him, "We have heard about the appearance of those wild

beasts in our land, and it has distressed the people. We are, however,

astonished that they consider such an insignif icant occurrence

as so portentous; tell us what you think about all this." The

Chief Mobadh replied, "O king — may God grant you long life — I

have heard our scholars learned in the divine law say that, so long

as justice does not overlay tyranny in a land and itself becomes

obliterated, the people of that land will be afflicted by incursions

of their enemies against them, and all sorts of unpleasant things

will gradually come upon them. I have become afraid lest the

infiltration of these wild beasts into your land is connected with

what I have just told you." Very soon afterward, the news reached

Kisra that a band of Turkish youths had raided the furthest boundaries

of his land. He ordered his ministers and provincial governors

 not to go beyond what was just in the course of their official

duties and not to act in any way during the course of those duties

except justly. Because of this policy of acting justly, God deflected

that enemy from Kisra's land without his having to make war on

them or to undertake great trouble in repelling them. 637

Kisra had several handsomely educated sons. From out of those,

he appointed as his successor to the throne Hurmuz, whose

mother was the daughter of Khatun and Khaqan, 638 because he

knew Hurmuz to be a person who would act with circumspection

and fidelity to his word, and because he hoped through this appointment

that Hurmuz would keep the kingdom in order and

would show strength in directing the government of the land and

in ruling over the subjects and treating them suitably. 639

637. The story of an invasion of jackals into Iraq appears in al-Dinawari, al-

Akhbai al-tfwal, 74, but with no mention of an incursion of Turkish youths,- here,

the depredations of the jackals are attributed to the existence of tyranny and

injustice within Anusharwan's lands, remedied by his appointing a commission of

thirteen agents to enquire into the matter, as a result of which the king executed

ninety evil officials pour ddcourager les autres. Cf. N 5 ldeke, trans. 251 n. 1.

638. See al-Tabari, I, 899, p. 160 above.

639. Anusharwan's designation of Hormizd (IV) sprang no doubt from his moth-

er's royal birth. According to such sources as al-Dinawari, al-Akbbar al-fiwal, 74-

75, and al-Ya'qubi, Ta’rikb, I, r87, the king passed over his other sons because they had mothers of lowly origin and were only awlad suqah, and chose Hormizd after carefully observing his worthy behavior. Cf. Noldeke, trans. 252 n. 3.

2 66

Holders of Power after Ardashir b. Babak

The birth of the Messenger of God took place during the reign of

Kisra Anusharwan, in the year when Abrahah al-Ashram Abu

Yaksum marched against Mecca with the Abyssinians, bringing

with him the elephant, having the intention of demolishing the

Holy House of God. It happened after forty-two years of Kisra

Anusharwan's reign had elapsed . 640 In this same year also was the

640. This would make it the year 573. The question of the birth date of Muhammad is unusually speculative and controversial. A key point is what al-Tabari mentions here, i.e., the date of Abrahah's expedition against Mecca in the "Year of the Elephant," with which the Prophet's birth date is held to coincide. But since the early Islamic historical tradition does not date this expedition, a date of 5 70 has been calculated backward from the fact that Muhammad's first call to prophethood, the mabhath, fell approximately in 610 and from the saying that he was about forty years old when he received this call.

However, this date of 570, while repeated in many of the biographies of Muhammad, is contradicted both by evidence outside the Islamic tradition, principally from what we know about South Arabian history in the mid-sixth century, and by some reports within the Islamic tradition, which give widely differing dates up to twenty years after the "Year of the Elephant." Already more than 120 years ago, Noldeke, trans. 204 n. 2, saw that the traditional dating was untenable, adducing among other things Ibn al-Kalbi's assertion that Muhammad's birth was twenty- three years after Abrahah's expedition (also in his Geschichte des Qorans, I, 67- 70). Lammens pointed out that, if one takes ten years off the traditional birth date of 570, i.e., placing Muhammad's birth in 580 so that he was fifty-two years old when he died, there is a correspondence with the date for the Prophet's death given by Barhebraeus in his Mukhta$ar Ta’rikh al-Duwal, ed. A. §alihani, Beirut 1890, 1 60, i.e., 892 of the Seleucid era - a.d. 5 80 (unfortunately Barhebraeus does not say w he acquired this date); see Lammens, "L'age de Mahomet et la chronologie de la Sira," 239-40. Various Islamic traditions stating that Muhammad was not bom in the "Year of the Elephant" have been listed by Kister, see n. 563 above. What we know of Abrahah's policy in pushing his dominion northward from Yemen into Hijaz and central Arabia places his activities in the 5 50s, as attested by the well of Murayghan inscription from 552-53. Whether an attack on Mecca was part of the campaign of Abrahah to Huluban or another campaign mounted into Hijaz shortly afteward is discussed in n. 5 63 above. All in all, it does not seem feasible to uphold the date of 570 as being that of the Prophet's birth. Furthermore, L. I. Conrad, in a detailed discussion of the whole topic, has pointed out how little interested were the Arabs of north and central Arabia in questions of firm dating and chronology, seen in the vagueness and confusedness over the chronological order and relationship to each other of the ayyam al-'Aiab, the battles of the pre-Islamic Arabs. Hence the figure of forty years for Muhammad's life before his call to nubuwwah —

apart from the fact that "forty" is a literary topos in both ancient and mediaeval

times for a number with connotations of perfection, completion, and

culmination — must be regarded as a symbolic rather than a chronologically exact

one. See his "Abraha and Muhammad. Some Observations Apropos of Chronology and Literary Topoi in the Early Arabic Historical Tradition," 225-40.

Holders of Power after Ardashir b. Babak 267

"Day of Jabalah," one of the celebrated "days" (i.e., battles) of the

Arabs. 641

641. Jabalah, an isolated mountain in Najd some 150 km/90 miles south of

'Unayzah (al-Bakri, Mu'jam ma ista'jam, n, 365—66; Yaqut, Buldan, n, 104), was

the scene of the yawm [shi'b] Jabalah or yawm al-Nuq between 'Amir b. $a'$a'ah

and 'Abs on one side, and Tamlm, supported by Dhubyan, Asad, a contingent from al-Hirah and men of Kindah from the Al Jawnah then ruling in Bahrayn (see n. 3 12 above), accounted as one of the most celebrated battles of the Arabs. ' Amir and their allies were victorious, and one result was the shattering of Kindi power in Najd (see Olinder, "Al al-Gaun of the Family of Akil al-Murar," 114-25; because two members of the line of Jawn took part in the battle, the encounter is also known as the yawm al-Jawnayn ). The historical traditions vary concer ning the date of the "Day of Jabalah"; some place it in the year of Muhammad's birth, others seventeen or nineteen years before that. In reality, if the Lakhmid king who sent a contingent was, as the historical traditions say, al-Nu'man (HI) b. al-Mundhir (IV), then the date cannot be before 580, the year of his accession. See Caskel, Aijdm al-'Aiab. Studien zur altarabischen Epik, ri, 34, 36-37, 62, translating at 95-97 part of the Naqa’id Jarir wa-al-Farazdaq, n, 654ft., describing the "Day"; EP, s.w. Djabala (F. Buhl-R. L. Headley), Shi'b Djabala (I. Shahid).

Mention of the Birth of

the Messenger of God

9

There related to us Ibn al-Muthanna — Wahb b. Jarir — his father,

who said: I heard Muhammad b. Ishaq — al-Muttalib b. 'Abdallah

b. Qays b. Makhramah — his father— his grandfather, who said:

The Messenger of God and myself were bom in the Year of the

Elephant.

He related: 'Uthman b. 'Affan asked Qubath b. Ashyam, a member

of the Banu 'Amr b. Layth, "Who is the greater in build ( akbar ),

you or the Messenger of God?" He replied, "The Messenger of God

is greater in build than I, although I preceded him in date of birth

( and aqdam minhu fi al-milad ) } I saw the elephant's dung, dark

colored and reduced to a powdery form, one year after the beast's

appearance. I also saw Umayyah b. 'Abd Shams as a very old man

being led around by his slave." His son said, "O Qubath, you have

the best knowledge,- what do you say?"

There related to us Ibn Humayd — Salamah — Ibn Ishaq — al-

Muttalib b. 'Abdallah b. Qays b. Makhramah — his father — his

grandfather Qays b. Makhramah, who said: The Messenger of God

and myself were bom in the Year of the Elephant, and we were

coevals of each other.

There was narrated to me a narrative going back to Hisham b.

Muhammad, who said: 'Abdallah b. 'Abd al-Muttalib, the Messenger

of God's father, was bom in the twenty-fourth year of Kisra

Anusharwan's period of power, and the Messenger of God was

bom in the forty-second year of his period of power. 642

642. That is, 'Abdallah would have been bom, on this reckoning, in 5 5 5 and his

son Muhammad in 573.

The Birth of the Messenger of God

269

I was informed by Yusuf b. Mu'in — Hajjaj b. Muhammad —

Yunus b. Abi Ishaq — Said b. Jubayr — Ibn 'Abbas, who said: The

Messenger of God was bom in the Year of the Elephant.

I was informed by Ibrahim b. al-Mundhir — 'Abd al-'Aziz b. Abi

Thabit — al-Zubayr b. Musa — Abu al-Huwayrith, who said: I

heard 'Abd al-Malik b. Marwan say to Qubath b. Ashyam al-

Kinanl al-Laythi, O Qubath, who is the greater in body, you or the

Messenger of God?" He replied, "The Messenger of God was

greater in body than me, but I am older than him. The Messenger

of God was bom in the Year of the Elephant, and my mother stood

with me by a pile of the elephant's dung, when it was crumbling

away to powder, at a time when I was nevertheless able to understand

what it was."

There related to us Ibn Humayd — Salamah — Ibn Ishaq, who

said: The Messenger of God was bom in the Year of the Elephant,

on Monday, the twelfth of the month of Rabf I. It is said that he

was bom in the house known as that of Ibn Yusuf. It is further said

that the Messenger of God gave this house to 'Aqll b. Abi Talib,

who retained ownership of it until he died, when his son sold it to

Muhammad b. Yusuf, brother of al-Hajjaj b. Yusuf. Muhammad

rebuilt the house called that of Ibn Yusuf, and incorporated that

new part into the house as a whole. Later, al-Khayzuran separated

the new part from the house as a whole and made it into a mosque,

which then came into use for public worship. 643

There related to us Ibn Humayd — Salamah — Ibn Ishaq, who

said: Among what people relate is the assertion — but God is the

most knowing [about the truth] — that Aminah bt. Wahb, the Messenger

of God's mother, used to relate that when she became

pregnant, people came to her and said, "You are bearing the lord of

this community ( sayyid hadhihi al-ummah), and when he drops

to the ground [from you], exclaim, 'I seek refuge in the One God —

from the evil of every envious one,' and then name him Muhammad.

" When she was pregnant with him, she dreamed that there

came forth from her a light, by which she could discern the fortresses

643. Muhammad had made this house over to 'All's half-brother 'Aqll b. Abi

Jalib when he left Mecca on the Hijrah to Medina; with al-Khayzuran's purchase

of it, the house returned to the family of Hashim. See al-Azraqi, Akhbai Makkah,

422,; Nabia Abbott, Two Queens of Baghdad, Mother and Wife ofHarun al-Rashid, 118-19.

270

The Birth of the Messenger of God

( qusur ) of Busra in the land of Syria . 644 When she actually

gave birth to him, she sent a message to the child's grandfather

'Abd al-Muttalib: "A baby boy has been bom for you, so come and

see him." He indeed came along and saw the child, and she told

him about the dream she had had while pregnant with the child,

what had been told her regarding him and what she had been

commanded to call the child . 645

There related to us Muhammad b. Sinan al-Qazzaz — Ya'qub b.

Muhammad al-Zuhri — 'Abd al-'Aziz b. 'Imran — 'Abdallah b.

644. Busra or Bosra was an ancient town of the Hawran in southern Syria, to the

south of the modem Jabal al-Duruz. At the time of Muhammad's birth it was an

important center of Byzantine power and of Eastern Christianity. Muslim legend

later made the Arabs' capture of Busra, the first town of the Byzantines to fall into

their hands, into a sign of divine favor for Muhammad's mission. It also had a

continued fame as the place to which the youthful Muhammad is said to have

journeyed in the company of his uncle Abu Talib and where he is said to have met

the Christian monk Bahira or Buhayra, who foretold the boy's coming greatness as a prophet. See Yaqut, Buldan, 1, 441-42? Le Strange, Palestine, 425-26; T. Andrae, Die Person Muhammeds in Lehre und Glauben seiner Gemeinde, 38; M. Lings. Muhammad, His Life based on the Earliest Sources, 29-30? El 2 , s.w. Bahira and Bosra (A. Abel).

645. Aminah bt. Wahb b. "Abd al-Manaf was from the Meccan clan of Zuhrah.

Her apparently uxorilocal marriage with 'Abdallah b. 'Abd al-Mut$alib was ended

by the latter's premature death (see n. 662 below), and she herself died when

Muhammad was only six years old, leaving him to his paternal grandfather's care.

See EP-, s.v. Amina (W. M. Watt). Popular belief and lore in early Islam attributed various supernatural details to Aminah's pregnancy and the birth of Muhammad, including the story of the dream of divine radiance, "the light of prophethood," the averring that she was bearing "the lord of this community," and the remarkable ease of her giving birth to him, clean, with cut umbilical cord and circumcised, after which the infant placed his hands on the ground and gave thanks to heaven. See Ibn Hisham, Sir at al-nabi, ed. Wvistenfeld, 102, 106 - ed. al-Saqqa et al., 1, 166- 67, 175, tr. 69, 72? Ibn Sa'd, Kitab al-Jabaqat al-kabir, I/i, 60-61, 63-64. On the topic of Muhammad's being bom circumcised and the fact that, according to some traditions, Muhammad was only one of a series of prophets bom circumcised, see Kister, "... And he was bom circumcised. . . . ' Some Notes on Circumcision in Hadith," 10-30 and esp. 13-16.

Modem scholars have pointed out the resemblance of many of these details to

the stories of the birth and early life of other great religious leaders. Thus the nur

muhammadi parallels the old Iranian idea of the divine fortune or glory of kings,

xvaronah, MP farrah, NP fair (see n. 232 above), which manifested itself, according to the account in the Denkard, at the time of Zoroaster's birth, and the light at the births of Krishna and the Buddha, while the announcement of Aminah's forthcoming delivery of a child is like that of Mary glorying in her conception of Jesus in the Magnificat. See I. Goldziher, "Neuplatonische und gnostische Elemente im Hadlt," 328-30? Andrae, Die Person Muhammeds, 28-33, 3*9 -aij idem, Mohammed, sein Leben und Glaube, 28-29

The Birth of the Messenger of God

271

'Uthman b. Abi Sulayman b. Jubayr b. Mufim — his father — Ibn

Abi Suwayd al-Thaqafi — 'Uthman b. Abi al-'A§ — his mother, who

said that she was present at the Messenger of God's mother

Aminah bt. Wahb's giving birth, this being during the night, and

Aminah said, "What is this thing which I can see from the house,

lighting everything up, and I can also see the stars drawing near

me to such a point that I can say that they are falling on top of

me."

Ibn Humayd — Salamah — Ibn Ishaq, who said: People assert that

'Abd al-Muttalib picked up the child and took it along to Hubal, 646

in the heart of the Ka'bah, and stood by him, praying to God and

giving thanks for what He had vouchsafed him. Then he went

forth with the child and handed him over to his mother. He sought

out for the child foster mothers, 647 and asked a woman to foster

him, one from the Banu Sa'd b. Bakr called Halimah bt. Abi

Dhu’ayb, Abu Dhu’ayb being 'Abdallah b. al-Harith b. Shijnah b.

Jabir b. Rizam b. Nasirah b. Qu§iyyah b. Sa'd b. Bakr b. Hawazin b.

Man§ur b. 'Ikrimaha b. Kha§afah b. Qays b. 'Aylan b. Mudar. The

name of the Messenger of God's foster father was al-Harith b. 'Abd

al-'Uzza b. Rifa'ah b. Malian b. Nasirah b. Qusiyyah b. Sa'd b, Bakr

b. Hawazin b. Mansur b. 'Ikrimah b. Kha§afah b. Qays b. 'Aylan b.

Mudar. The names of his foster brother and sisters were 'Abdallah

b. al-Harith, and Unaysah bt. al-Harith and Judhamah 648 bt. al-

Harith, respectively. The latter was in practice called al-

Shayma’, 649 a name that prevailed over her proper name so that,

646. The cult of the god Hubal was said to have been introduced into Mecca by a

man of Khuza'ah, 'Amr b. Luhayy. He became an especially popular god in the

pantheon of the Ka'bah, before whom divination by means of arrows (cleromancy,

the istiqsam bi-al-azldm of Qur’an, V, 4/3), so that Wellhausen speculated ( Reste

arabischen Heidentums 2 , 75) whether the worship of Hubal was not identical

with, or paved the way for, the worship of Allah there. This seems, however,

unlikely, especially as, at the battle of Uhud in the course of the warfare between

Quraysh of Mecca and the Muslims in Medina, the clash between the Meccans'

god Hubal and the Muslims' Allah is stressed. See Fahd, Le pantheon de l’Azabie

centrale d la veille de I'Hdgiie, 95-103; EP, s.v. Hubal (T. Fahd).

647. nu}a'a\ literally "children suckling at the breast," sing, iadr, hence used

here by metonymy for "foster mothers" or for some expression like dhawdt or

ulat/iildt al-rada'ah.

648. In parallel sources we have the variants Khidhamah and Hudhafah for this

name.

649. Literally, "the woman marked by a mole ( shdmah )."

The Birth of the Messenger of God

272

among her people, she was known exclusively by it. [The mother

of these foster siblings was] Halimah bt. 'Abdallah b. al-Harith,

(foster) mother of the Messenger of God. It is asserted that al-

Shayma’ used to carry the Messenger of God in her bosom, as also

did her own mother while the boy was in her care. 650

As for the report from an authority other than Ibn Ishaq, he

relates concerning that: There related to me al-Harith — Ibn Sa'd —

Muhammad b. 'Umar — Musa b. Shaybah — 'Umayrah bt.

'Ubaydallah b. Ka'b b. Malik — Barrah bt. Abi Tujza’ah, who said:

The first person who suckled the Messenger of God for a few days

was Thuwaybah, with milk for a son of hers called Masruh, before

Halimah was put forward; she had previously suckled Hamzah b.

'Abd al-Muttalib, and after him she suckled Abu Salamah b. 'Abd

al-Asad al-Makhzumi.

There related to us Humayd — Salamah — Ibn Ishaq, also

Hannad b. al-Sari — Yunus b. Bukayr — Ibn Ishaq, also Harun b.

Idris al-Asamm— al-Muharibl — Ibn Ishaq, also Sa'id b. Yahya al-

Umawi — his paternal uncle Muhammad b. Sa'id — Muhammad b.

Ishaq — al-Jahm b. Abi al-Jahm, a mawla of 'Abdallah b. fa'far —

'Abdallah b. Ja'far b. Abi Talib, who said: Halimah bt. Abi Dhu’ayb

al-Sa'diyyah, the Messenger of God's (foster) mother who suckled

him, used to relate that she went forth from her land, accom-

panied by her husband and an infant son of hers whom she was

nursing, with a group of women from the Banu Sa'd b. Bakr, seeking

for babies whom they could foster. This was, she related, in a

year of severe drought, which had left nothing. [She related:] I set

out on a greyish-white she-ass of mine, together with an old she-

camel which was not, by God, yielding a drop [of milk]. We could

not sleep the whole night because of our child's crying from hunger.

There was nothing in my breasts to satisfy him, and nothing

in our she-camel to provide him with nourishment, but we were

hoping for rain and for relief.

650. Hallmah's tribe Sa'd b. Bakr were part of the Hawazin confederation, who

lived in Hijaz in the vicinity of Mecca and al-Ta’if. When women of Sa'd b. Bakr

were captured by Muhammad on his defeat of Hawazin at the battle of Hunayn in

8/630, he honored Hallmah's daughter al-Shayma’ and responded favorably to

appeals by the menfolk of the tribe on the basis of their foster relationship. See EP, s.w. Halima bint Abi Dhu’ayb and Sa'd b. Bakr (W. M. Watt).

The Birth of the Messenger of God

273

I set off on that she-ass of mine, but through weakness and

emaciation it was jaded, and lagged behind the rest of the group

until that became an irritation for them. Finally, we reached

Mecca, where we sought for children to foster. The Messenger of

God was offered to every one of the women, but each one rejected

him when told that he was an orphan, since we hoped for the

customary payment from the child's father. We would say, "An

orphan! And what are his mother and grandfather likely to do?"

Hence for that reason we spumed him. Every woman in the group

that had come with me had found a child to foster except myself.

When we decided to depart, I said to my husband, "I dislike the

idea of returning with my group of women companions without

having taken a foster child; by God, I shall go back to that orphan

and take him." My husband said, "You are free to do as you wish;

perhaps God will send us a blessing on his account." She related: I

took him up and brought him back to my traveling baggage. When

I placed him in my bosom, my breasts immediately began to flow

for him with all the milk he desired. He sucked until he was full

up, as did also his (foster) brother. Then they both slept, whereas

previously he had not been able to sleep. My husband arose and

went to that old she-camel of ours and looked at it, and lo and

behold, her udders were full. He milked it, and we both drank of

the milk until we were finally refreshed and replete, and we

passed a happy night. She related: When it was morning, my husband

said to me, "By God, O Halimah, do you realize that you

have taken a blessed creature?" I replied, "By God, I hope so." She

related: Then we set off. I rode that she-ass of mine and carried

him with me, and by God, she went ahead through the party of

riders so that none of their other male asses could keep up with it,

to the point that my women companions were saying to me, "O

Ibnat Abi Dhu’ayb! Wait for us! Isn't this she-ass of yours the one

on which you started out?" and they commented, "By God, there

is something extraordinary about it!" She related: We then

reached our camping grounds in the country of the Banu Sa'd; and

I do not known any of God's lands more barren than that.

[She related:] When we had him with us, my flock used to come

back to us in the evening satiated and full of milk. We would milk

them and drink the milk, while other people could not draw a drop

or find anything in their beasts' udders, until those of our tribes

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The Birth of the Messenger of God

who had fixed dwelling places (al-hadtr min qawmind) used to tell

their shepherds, "Woe to you! Send your flocks to pasture where

Ibnat Abi Dhu’ayb's shepherd sends his flock!" But their flocks

nevertheless would come back in the evening hungry, not yielding

a drop of milk, while my flock would come back satiated and full

of milk. We kept on recognizing increased bounty from God

through the child, until two years had gone by, when I weaned

him. He was growing up into a boy such as none of the other lads

were, so that by the time he was two years old, he was a well-

formed child beyond the age of suckling. We brought him to his

[real] mother, although we were very eager for him to continue

staying with us because of the blessing we observed he had

brought us. So we talked with his mother and said to her, "O wet

nurse (zi’r), 651 1 should like you to leave my little boy with me [for

a further period], until he becomes big and sturdy, for I fear his

succumbing to the plague in Mecca." She related: We kept on at

her until she sent him back with us. 652

She related: We brought him back, and by God, a few months

after our return with him, he and his (foster) brother were with

some lambs of ours, behind our tents, when his (foster) brother

came running toward us and told me and his (foster) father, "Two

men wearing white robes have come to that QurashI brother of

mine, and have laid him down on the ground and slit open his

belly and are at this moment stirring it up." She related: His (foster)

father and I ran swiftly out and found him standing there with

a livid face. She related: His father and I rushed to his side and said

to him, "What's the matter, my dear son?" He replied, "Two men

wearing white robes came up to me, laid me down on the

651. As Guillaume observed, Ibn Hisham, Sirat al-nabi, trans. 71 n. x, the implication that Aminah was not Muhammad's biological mother is rather strange.

652. These miraculous events attending Hallmah's suckling of the infant

Muhammad, the abundance of milk from the animals in time of dearth, and the

revival of the flagging donkey, are part of the traditional Shah of the Prophet. See

Ibn Hisham, Shat al-nabi, ed. Wustenfeld, 103-105 = ed. al-Saqqa et al., 1 , 171-73, tr. 70-71; Ibn Sa’d, Kitab al-Tabaqat al-kabh, I/i, 69-70; and cf. Lings, Muham-

mad, 25-26. See for modem discussions of these miraculous details, Andrae, Die

Person Muhammeds. 28ff. ; Buhl, Das Leben Muhammeds, 117-17; Watt. Muhammad at Mecca, 33-36; Annemarie Schimmel, And Muhammad Is His Messenger. The Veneration of the Prophet in Islamic Piety, 10.

The Birth of the Messenger of God

V5

ground, slit open my belly, and searched within it for something I

know not what." She said: We took him back with us to our tent.

She related: His (foster) father said to me: "O Hallmah, by God, I

fear that this child may have been struck by some malady, so take

him back to his family before the results of the attack become

manifest." She related: So we picked him up and bore him back to

his mother. She asked, "What has made you bring him back, O

wet nurse, when you were formerly so anxious for his welfare and

for his remaining with you?" She related: I said, "God has allowed

my (foster) son to grow up so far, and I have fulfilled the duties

incumbent upon me. I now fear that something untoward may

afflict him, so I have handed him back to you as you desire."

Aminah asked me, "What's all this that has happened to you? Tell

me the truth!" She related: She would not leave me alone until I

had told her the whole story. She asked, "Were you then afraid a

demon ( al-shay%an ) had possessed him?" She related: I replied,

"Yes." She exclaimed, "By God, indeed no! No demon has power

over him. My dear son has a great future before him,- shall I not tell

you his story?" She related: I answered, "Yes, please." Aminah

said, "When I became pregnant with him, a light went forth from

me which illuminated all the fortresses of Busra in the land of

Syria for me, and thereafter I bore him, and by God, I never had a

pregnancy that was easier and smoother than the one with him.

Then when I gave birth to him, he slid out, and placed his hands on

the ground and raised his head toward the heavens. Leave him

now, and go back with your task honorably fulfilled."

There related to us Nasr b. 'Abd al-Rahman al-Azdl —

Muhammad b. Ya'la — 'Umar b. Subayh — Thawr b. Yazid al-

Sha’ml — Makhul al-Sha’mi — Shaddad b. Aws, who said: Once,

while we were sitting with the Messenger of God, there approached

a shaykh of the Banu 'Amir, who was the leading chief

and sayyid of his tribe and descendant of a great shaykh, leaning

upon a staff, and appeared before the Messenger of God, standing

here, and attributed the latter genealogically to his grandfather,

saying thus, "O Ibn 'Abd al-Muttalib, I have been informed that

you claim to be the Messenger of God to the people ( al-nas ) and

that [you claim that] God has sent you with the message which He

entrusted to Ibrahim (Abraham), Musa (Moses), 'Isa (Jesus), and

2j6

The Birth of the Messenger of God

other prophets. [I am further informed] that you have pronounced

a momentous message ( fawwahta bi- ( azim in ). 653 But the prophets

and the representatives of God (al-khulafa') have stemmed only

from two houses of the Children of Israel, whereas you come from

a people who worship these stones and idols. So what connection

have you with prophethood? Nevertheless, every utterance has its

core of truth, so tell me about the truth of your words and the

beginnings of your claim to prophethood." He related: The

Prophet was pleasurably impressed by his question, and replied,

"O brother of the Banu 'Amir, this affair you are asking me about

has indeed its own story and place (or: occasion) where (or: when)

it should be recounted, so sit down!"

The man bent his legs and then knelt down just as a camel does,

and the Prophet faced him and began to speak. He said: "O brother

of the Banu 'Amir, the truth of my words and the beginnings of my

claim to prophethood lie in the fact that I am what my forefather

Abraham prayed for and the good news of my brother Jesus, son of

Mary. I was my mother's first bom, and she conceived and bore me

as the heaviest burden she had ever borne and began to complain

of the weight she felt to her fellow wives (or: fellow womenfolk,

sawahibiha). Then my mother saw in a dream that what she bore

in her womb was a light, and she said, "I began to follow the light

with my gaze, and the light went before my gaze until it lit up for

me the whole eastern and western limits of the earth." Then she

gave birth to me, and I grew up. When I grew up, the idols of

Quraysh were rendered hateful to me, as was also poetry . 654 1 was

offered for suckling among the Banu Layth b. Bakr. 655

653. This seems to be the sense here of fawwaha, although the lexica only give

the meaning for this form II verb of "[God] created someone with a wide mouth."

654. In the years at Mecca before his call to prophethood, Muhammad is said to

have recoiled from swearing by Allat and al-'Uzza, but this premature rejection of

polytheism may be a retrojection of subsequent attitudes. Also, Muhammad's

rejection of poetry was not presumably from lack of interest or for aesthetic reasons but, as is clear from Qur’an, XXVI, 221-26, cf. LXEX, 40-43, because the themes of poetry were the expression par excellence of the old pagan order, with its violence, its emphasis on revenge, and its proclamation of trust in human effort as a major factor in life, attitudes which the new faith of Islam aimed at countering or transforming.

655. In al-Tabari, I, 969, p. 271 above, Halimah's tribe is the Banu Sa'd b. Bakr.

Layth b. Bakr b. 'Abd Manat were one of the main branches of Kinanah; see Ibn al- Kalbi-Caskel-Strenziok, Jamhaiat al-nasab, I, Table 36, n, 6, 376.

The Birth of the Messenger of God 277

One day, I was away from the rest of my people in the bottom of

a wadi, with a group of children of my own age, and we were

playing at throwing between us pieces of camels' dung. Suddenly,

a group of three men approached us, bearing a gold pitcher filled

with snow. They took me out of the group of my friends, and the

latter fled until they reached the edge of the wadi. Then they came

back to the group of three and said, "What do you intend to do

with this lad? He is not one of us but is the son of the lord of

Quraysh, and is an orphan, for whom a wet nurse was sought

among us ; he has no father. What good will killing him bring you,

and what will you gain from that? But if you are determined ineluctably

on killing him, then choose one of us, whichever you like;

let him come to you in his stead, and then kill him; but leave this

lad alone, he is an orphan." However, when the children saw the

group of three men returning no answer to them, they fled at top

speed back to the tribe, telling them what had happened and imploring

 help against the men.

One of the three men came up to me and laid me gently on the

ground, and then split open my body from the division of my rib

cage (mafiaq $adri\ to the end of the pubic hair, while I was watching

all this but not feeling any touch at all. He then took out the

viscera from my abdomen and washed them with that snow. He

washed them carefully and replaced them. Then the second man

stood up and said to his companion, "Stand aside," and he drew

him away from me. He then put his hand into my insides and

brought forth my heart, with me watching all the time. He split it

asunder, extracted a black drop and threw the drop aside. He went

on to say: In his hand, at his right side, there was as if he were

holding something, and lo and behold, just by me was a seal ring in

his hand, emitting light that dazzled anyone looking at it, and by

means of which he sealed my heart so that it became filled with

light; this was the light of prophethood and wisdom. Then he

returned it to its place. I felt the coolness of that seal ring in my

heart for a long time afterward. The third man now said to his

companion, "Stand aside from me," and he passed his hand over

my body from the division of my rib cage to the end of the pubic

hair, and that slit was henceforth healed together, by God's permission.

He now took my hand and gently made me get up from

my resting place, and said to the first man, who had slit open my

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The Birth of the Messenger of God

body, "Weigh him against ten of his community!" They weighed

me against them, and I outweighed them. Next he said, "Weigh

him against a hundred of his community!" They weighed me

against them, and I outweighed them. Finally he said, "Weigh him

against a thousand of his community!" They weighed me against

them, and I outweighed them. He then said, "Let him be; even if

you were to weigh him against the whole of his community, he

would outweigh them all!" He related: They then clasped me to

their breasts, and kissed my head and the place between my eyes.

They said to me, "O my dear one, you have not been rendered

terrified. If only you knew the goodness and benefit that is intended

through you, you would rejoice and be refreshed."

He related: While we were engaged thus, behold, I found the

tribe at my side, who had come in their entirety, and there was my

mother, who was [really] my wet nurse, in the forefront of the

tribe, crying out at the top of her voice and saying, "Alas for a poor,

weak one!" He related: They crowded round me and fell upon me,

kissing my head and the place between my eyes, and said, "Good

for you O poor, weak one!" Then my wet nurse lamented, "Alas

for a solitary one!" at which they crowded round and fell upon me

and clasped me to their breasts, kissing my head and the place

between my eyes, and said, "Good for you, O solitary one, for you

are not a solitary one — indeed God, His angels, and all the believers

of the people of the earth are with you!" But my wet nurse

still lamented, "Alas for an orphan, treated as a weak one among

your companions and then killed because of your weakness!" at

which they crowded round and fell upon me and clasped me to

their breasts, kissing my head and the place between my eyes, and

said, "Good for you, O orphan, how noble you are in the sight of

God! If you only knew what goodness and blessing is intended

through you!" He related: They (i.e.,- the three miraculous visitants)

brought me to the edge of the wadi. When my mother, who

was [really] my wet nurse, saw me, she cried out, "O my dear son!

Do I really see you still alive?" and she came up to me, fell upon

me and clasped me to her breast. And by Him in whose hand is my

soul, I was within her bosom, she having clasped me to her, while

my hand was still in the hand of one of the three men. I began to

turn toward them, imagining that the members of the tribe could

see them [also], but they could not in fact see them. One of the

The Birth of the Messenger of God

279

members of the tribe commented, "Some touch of madness or a

visitation of the jinn has affected this lad; let us take him along to

our soothsayer and medicine man \kahin), so that he may examine

him and cure him." I said to him, "O so-and-so, nothing such as

you mention has affected me,- my mental faculties are intact and

my heart is sound; I am not afflicted by any malady ." 656 My father

said — he being the husband of my wet nurse — "Do you not perceive

that what he says is the speech of a perfectly sound person? I

fully expect that no affliction will permanently affect my son."

They nevertheless agreed upon taking me along to the soothsayer,

and they carried me until they came to him. When they related to

him the story of what had happened to me, he told them, "Shut

up, until I hear from the child himself, for he knows more about

what happened to him than you do." He questioned me, and I told

him my story, from beginning to end. When he had heard my

words, he sprang up and clasped me to his breast, and then called

out in the loudest possible voice, "O Arabs, O Arabs, forward! Kill

this lad, and kill me with him, for by Allat and al-'Uzza, if you let

him be and he reaches the age of puberty, he will most certainly

subvert your religion, declare your minds and those of your forefathers

 to be deluded, oppose your way of life, and bring forward

for you a religion of whose like you have never heard." I made for

my foster mother, and she snatched me away from his bosom,

saying, "You yourself are certainly more deranged and more possessed

by the jinn than this son of mine, and if I had only known

that you would have made such a pronouncement as this, I would

not have brought him along to you. Seek out for yourself someone

who will kill you, for I am not going to kill this lad!" Then they

bore me along and handed me back to my family. I subsequently

lost all fear of what had been done to me, and the traces of that cut

from my breast to the end of the pubic hair became just a faint

line. This, O brother of the Banu 'Amir, is the truth of my words

and the beginnings of my claim to prophethood . 657

656. qalabah, literally "a condition or malady for which the afflicted one should

be turned over and examined," apparently a disease of camels and horses; accord-

ing to the lexicographers, it was only used in negative contexts, as here. See Lane,

Lexicon, 2554b-c.

657. The story of the opening of Muhammad's breast has been first given by al-

Tabari at I, 972-73, pp. 274-75 above, on the basis of four isnads all going through Ibn Ishaq and in a fairly brief form. It is now given in greater detail in a khabar going back to Shaddad b. 'Amr b. Thabit (nephew of the poet of Medina Hassan b. Thabit, died 58/678; see Ibn Sa'd, Kitdb al-tabaqat al-kabh, VH/2, 124). Then thirdly, we have at I, 979, p. 282 below, a briefer version in a khabar going back to Khalid b. Ma'dan al-Kala'I (known as an ascetic and as a trustworthy authority, thiqah, for hadith transmission, died 103/721-22; see Ibn Sa'd, op. cit., VII/2, 162). Ibn Hisham, Shat al-nabi, ed. Wiistenfeld, 105-06 = ed. al-Saqqa et al., I, 173-76, tr. 71-72, gives, of course, the first version, that through Ibn Ishaq, as does Ibn Sa'd, op. cit., I/i, 70.

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The Birth of the Messenger of God

The 'Amiri exclaimed, “I call to witness God, than whom there

is no other god, that your calling is a true one, so give me information

about various things I am going to ask you." The Prophet

replied, "Ask what you want ( sal ' anka )" (before this, the Prophet

always used to say to a questioner, "Ask whatever you wish and

about what seems good to you," sal 'amma shi’ta wa-amma bada

laka he only said to the 'Amiri on that particular day sal ' anka

because that was a dialectical peculiarity [lughah] of the Banu

'Amir). The Prophet spoke to him concerning what he knew.

The 'Amiri said, "Tell me, O Ibn 'Abd al-Muttalib,

about that which increases one's knowledge." The Prophet replied,

Again, this story can be paralleled in the lore and legend of many other human

societies. The visitation by angels or spirits, the slitting open of Muhammad's

belly, the removal of the black spot of sin and purification by washing with snow,

all suggest ritual cleansing and the communication of extraordinary powers. In the

Jahiliyyah, it was often held that the jinn could communicate poetic inspiration to

a man by similar means. Goldziher, in his Abhandlungen zui arabischen Philologie, I, 2x3, cited as a parallel to the history of the opening of Muhammad's

breast what the sister of the poet of al-Ta’if, Umayyah b. Abl al-Salt (on whom see n. 603 above) is said to have told the Prophet that a jinn! in the form of a vulture opened the breast of the sleeping Umayyah, filled his breast with something unspecified and then closed it up. This gave the prophet Umayyah the inspiration for introducing wise aphorisms ( hikmah ) into his poems and also the idea of divine unity ( tawhld ).

What connection the story of Muhammad and his supernatural visitants has

with the words of Qur’an, XCIV, 1-2, "Did We not open your breast, And removed from you your burden?" is unclear. The Qur’an commentators take this figuratively rather than literally (i.e., with the verb sharaha in a-lam nashrali $adraka taken as meaning "to remove, lift away" rather than "to cut open": see Paret, Dei Koran. Kommentai and Konkoidanz, 515-16; Bell, A Commentary on the Qur'an, II, 554), that God opened up thereby Muhammad's awareness of the spiritual world; but there is always the possibility that the story of the opening of Muhammad's breast may have evolved to explain the Qur’anic passage in a literal sense.

See Andrae, Die Person Muhammeds, 32-34; Watt, Muhammad at Mecca, 35-36;

H. Birkeland, The Legend of the Opening of Muhammad’s Breast, passim; Schimmel. And Muhammad Is His Messenger, 67-69.

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281

"The process of learning." The 'Amiri asked, "Tell me what

points toward knowledge." The Prophet replied, "Asking questions.

" The 'Amiri asked, "Tell me about that which increases in

evil." The Prophet replied, "Persistence [in evil ways]." The

'Amiri asked, "Tell me, is piety of any avail after evil doing?" The

Prophet replied, "Yes, repentance {tawbah) cleanses from sin, and

good deeds sweep away evil deeds. If a servant [of God] mentions

his Lord's name when he is enjoying ease of life, God will aid him

in times of distress." The 'Amiri said, "How can that be, O Ibn

'Abd al-Muttalib?" The Prophet replied, "This is because God

says, 'No, by my power and exaltedness, I shall not gather together

for My servant two causes of security, nor shall I ever gather together

for him two causes of fear. If he shows fear toward Me in

this present world, he will feel secure from Me (i.e., from my

wrath) on the Day when I shall gather together all my servants in

the sacred enclosure [fyaziiat al-quds ). 658 This feeling of security

will remain with him perpetually and I shall not withhold my

blessings from him when I do deny blessings [from others]. But if

he feels secure from Me (i.e., self-sufficient) in this present world,

he will fear Me on the day when I shall gather together all my

servants at a specified time on an appointed day, and his fear will

remain with him perpetually.' "

The 'Amiri said, "Tell me, O Ibn 'Abd al-Muttalib, to what are

you summoning people?" The Prophet replied, "I am summoning

people to worship the One God, who has no partners, and that you

should throw off allegiance to idols, proclaim your disbelief in

Allat and al-'Uzza, affirm your belief in the Book or the prophets

which have come from God, perform the five acts of worship with

all their significant details, fast for a month in each year, and hand

over poor tax on your wealth, [for if you do so,] God will purify you

by means of it and render your wealth wholesome for you. Also,

that you should perform the Pilgrimage to the [Holy] House when

you are able to do this, perform the major ablution ( ghusl ) after

658. The Cairo text of al-Tabari, II, 164, has fyazirat al-fizdaws "enclosure of

Paradise," as in ms. P. of the Leiden text, see n. e. The reference is to the gathering together of the saved after the Last Judgment, as foretold in Qur’an, XIX, 8 s /8 8, and their admittance to Paradise. See EP, s.v. Kiyama (L. Gardetj.

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major bodily pollution (janabah), 659 and believe in death and the

resurrection after death, and in the Garden and Hell Fire." The

'Amiri said, "O Ibn 'Abd al-Muttalib, if I do all that, what will be

my reward?" The Prophet replied, "The Garden of Eden, from

below which springs of water flow, in which [those who are saved]

will remain forever, that is the reward of those who aim at righteousness .

" 660 The 'Amiri said, "O Ibn 'Abd al-Muttalib, is there,

as well as all that, any advantage for this present life, for I find ease

and pleasantness of daily life attractive?" The Prophet replied,

"Yes, indeed, success and a firm place in the land ." 661 He related:

The ‘Amiri responded to the Prophet's call and turned to God.

There related to us Ibn Humayd — Salamah — Muhammad b.

Ishaq — Thawr b. Yazld — Khalid b. Ma'dan al-Kala'i, who said: A

group of the Messenger of God's followers asked, "O Messenger of

God, tell us about yourself! " He replied, "Yes, I will. I am what my

forefather Abraham prayed for and the good news of Jesus. My

mother saw in a dream when she bore me within her womb that

there came forth from her a light which illuminated for her the

fortresses of Busra in the land of Syria. I was offered for suckling to

the women of the Banu Sa'd b. Bakr. Once when I was with one of

my (foster) brothers, behind our tents, tending our lambs, there

came to me two men wearing white robe and bearing a golden

pitcher filled with snow. They took hold of me, split open my

belly and then extracted from it my heart, which they split open,

taking out from it a black blood clot. They threw it aside, and then

washed my belly and my heart with that snow, until they had

cleansed it. Then one of them said to his companion, 'Weigh him

with ten of his community,' so he weighed me with them, and I

was equal to them in weight. Then he said, 'Weigh him with a

hundred of his community,' so he weighed me with them, and I

was equal to them in weight. Then he said, 'Weigh him with a

659. That is, the major ablution required after such polluting events as sexual

intercourse, contact with menstrual blood, etc. See EP, s.v. Ghusl (G. H.

Bousquet).

660. Qur’an, XX, 78/76. For this interpretation of tazakka in a late Meccan-early

Medinan context, see Watt, Muhammad at Mecca, 165-66.

661. Again echoing Qur’anic phraseology, in which al-tamakkun fi al-aid, "es-

tablishing a firm place in the land," is often a reward for the righteous.

The Birth of the Messenger of God

283

thousand of his community so he weighed me with them, and I

was equal to them in weight. Finally, he said, 'Leave him alone, for

even if I were to weigh him with [the whole of ] his community, he

would be equal to them.' "

Ibn Ishaq says: 'Abd Allah b. 'Abd al-Mut^alib, the Messenger of

God's father, died at a time when the Messenger of God's mother,

Aminah bt. Wahb b. 'Abd Manaf b. Zuhrah, was pregnant with

him.

As for Hisham [b. Muhammad), he says: 'Abdallah, the Messenger

of God's father, died when the Messenger of God was

twenty-eight months old . 662

There related to me al-Harith — Ibn Sa'd, who said: Muhammad

b. 'Umar al-Waqidi stated that the firmly accepted belief, from

which none of our companions differ, is that 'Abdallah b. 'Abd al-

Muttalib came back from Syria in a caravan of Quraysh's and

encamped at Medina, and he remained there until he died. He was

buried in the building [dar) of al-Nabighah, in the small hut ( al-dai

al-$ughia), [which is], when you go into the building, on your left,

within the house (bayt ). 663

There related to us Ibn Humayd — Salamah — Ibn Ishaq —

'Abdallah b. Abl Bakr b. Muhammad b. 'Amr b. Hazm al-An§ari,

who said that the Messenger of God's mother Aminah died at al-

Abwa’ between Mecca and Medina when the Messenger of God

662. Ibn Ishaq preferred the view that ’Abdallah died before Aminah gave birth

to Muhammad, although one line of transmission adds that he died when Muhammad was twenty-eight months old. Other authorities mentioned, such as Ibn al- Kalbl cited here, give figures like twenty-eight months or seven months for Muhammad's age at his father's death. Half-a-century later than Ibn Ishaq, however, the historian al-Waqidi (on whom see n. 1020 below) had much more circumstantial detail about the time and place of ’Abdallah's death (cf. below and n. 663).

See Ibn Hisham, Sirat al-nabi, ed. Wiistenfeld, 102 - ed. al-Saqqa et al., 1 , 167, tr. 69; Ibn Sa’d, Jabaqat, I/i, 61-62; and the detailed discussion of the varying reports on ’Abdallah's death in Lecker, "The Death of the Prophet M uhamma d's Father: Did Waqidi Invent Some of the Evidence?" 9-27.

663. Ibn Sa'd, Jabaqat, I/i, 61, following reports used by al-Waqidi, says that

’Abdallah was taken ill on the way back from Syria, was unable to carry on the

journey to Mecca and died at Medina among his maternal kinsmen, the Banu 'Adi

b. al-Najjar (his grandfather Hashim having married Salma bt. 'Amr from this

Medinan clan, see Ibn Hisham, Sirat al-nabi, ed. Wustenfeld, 88 - ed. al-Saqqa et

al., 1 , 144-45, tr. 59; Ibn Sa'd, op. cit., I/i, 46).

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was six years old, She had brought him to Medina to let him visit

his maternal uncles of the Banu 'Adi b. al-Najjar, but she died on

the way back to Medina with him. 664

Al-Harith related to me — Muhammad b. Sa'd — Muhammad b.

'Umar — Ibn Jurayj — 'Uthman b. Safwan, who said that Aminah

bt. Wahb's grave is in the ravine of Abu Dharr at Mecca.

There related to us Ibn Humayd — Salamah — Ibn Ishaq —

al-'Abbas b. 'Abdallah b. Ma'bad b. al-'Abbas — some member of

his family, who said that 'Abd al-Muttalib died when the Messenger

of God was eight years old. But another authority says that

'Abd al-Muttalib died when the Messenger of God was ten years

old.

There related to us Ibn Humayd — Salamah — Talhah b. 'Amr al-

Hadraml— 'Ata’ b. Abi Rabah — Ibn 'Abbas, who said: The Prophet

[981] was in the care of Abu Talib after his grandfather 'Abd al-Muttalib,

and became the latter's child as if he were part of himself. 665

664. Ibn Hisham, Shat al-nabi, ed. Wiistenfeld, 107 - ed. al-Saqqa et al., I, 177,

tr. 73, and Ibn Sa'd, Tabaqdt, I/i, 73-74, confirm that Aminah died at al-Abwa’

when Muhammad was six years old, and state that the Prophet visited and tended

her grave and mourned over her when he was en route for al-Hudaybiyah in 6/628. Al-Abwa’ lay just north of Mecca along the Medina road; it was said to be the goal of Muhammad's first ghazwah or raid against the Banu Damrah and the Banu Bakr b. 'Abd Manat of Kinanah only twelve months after the Hijrah. See al-Bakri, Mu- '/am ma ista'jam, I, 102; Yaqut, Buldan, I, 79-80; Watt, Muhammad at Medina, 84, 340; Al-Wohaibi, The Northern Hijaz, 35-40.

665. ghum? an rums an . . . saqil an dahln aa ■ literally, "like the wet and dry dirty matter which collects in the inner comer of the eye . . . and like something smooth and anointed with oil."