Page:Baladhuri-Hitti1916.djvu/224

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208
THE ORIGINS OF THE ISLAMIC STATE

mother of Muʿâwiyah ibn-abi-Sufyân, who repeatedly exclaimed, "Cut the arms of these 'uncircumcised' with your swords!" Her husband abu-Sufyân had come to Syria as a volunteer desiring to see his sons, and so he brought his wife with him. He then returned to al-Madînah where he died, year 31, at the age of 88. Others say he died in Syria. When the news of his death was carried to his daughter, umm-Ḥabîbah, she waited until the third day on which she ordered some yellow paint and covered with it her arms and face saying, "I would not have done that, had I not heard the Prophet say, 'A woman should not be in mourning for more than three days over anyone except her husband.'" It is stated that she did likewise when she received the news of her brother Yazîd's death. But Allah knows best.

Those who lost an eye or suffered martyrdom. Abu-Sufyân ibn-Ḥarb was one-eyed. He had lost his eye in the battle of aṭ-Ṭâʾif. In the battle of al-Yarmûk, however, al-Ashʿath ibn-Ḳais, Hâshim ibn-ʿUtbah ibn-abi-Waḳḳâṣ az-Zuhri (i. e. al-Mirḳâl) and Ḳais ibn-Makshûḥ, each lost an eye. In this battle ʿÂmir ibn-abi-Waḳḳâṣ az-Zuhri fell a martyr. It is this ʿÂmir who once carried the letter of ʿUmar ibn-al-Khaṭṭâb assigning abu-ʿUbaidah to the governorship of Syria. Others say he was a victim of the plague; still others report that he suffered martyrdom in the battle of Ajnâdîn; but all that is not true.

Ḥabîb ibn-Maslamah pursues the fugitives. Abu-ʿUbaidah put Ḥabîb ibn-Maslamah-l-Fihri at the head of a cavalry detachment charged with pursuing the fugitive enemy,[1] and Ḥabîb set out killing every man whom he could reach.

The story of Jabalah. Jabalah ibn-al-Aiham sided with the Anṣâr saying, "Ye are our brethren and the sons of our

  1. Athîr, vol. i, p. 179.