acknowledge this of thy gluttony or not, O Muʾâwiyah?" Then Hásan continued: "And I call God to witness before you whether you are not aware that Muʾâwiyah was leading a camel on which his father was riding, while his brother here present was driving her. And the Prophet of God said what he said.[1] And thou, thou knowest this! So much for thee, O Muʾâwiyah!—As for thee, O ʾAmru! five of the Kuraish were disputing with thee, and one of them got the better of thee, like el-Aiham.[1]He was the meanest of them in estimation, and of lower degree than the others. Then thou didst rise in the midst of the Kuraish, and saidst: 'I have ridiculed Muhammad in a poem of thirty lines.' And when the Prophet heard this, he cried, 'O Allâh ! I am no poet. O Allâh! do thou for every line curse ʾAmru-ibn-el-ʾAs with a curse!' Then thou didst depart with thy poem to the en-Najâshy,[2] and didst tell him
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 The circumstances here alluded to were probably well known at the time; but I have failed to discover further particulars about them.
- ↑ The king of Ethiopia, from whom some of the earliest converts to el-Islám sought protection when persecuted by the Kuraish. He received them kindly, and refused to give them up to those whom the Kuraish sent to demand them.
