Yémen was Balkîs,[1] who believed in God, and married His Prophet Sulaimân, the son of David—Peace be upon them both! But the old woman of Múdhar was thy ancestress, of whom God said concerning her—'and his wife is a Hamâlat-el-Hátab; round her neck is a fibre rope.'[2]
The historian adds: "And Muʾâwiyah pondered over this, and then, raising his head, said, 'May Allâh recompense thee with friends, and increase thy wisdom, and have mercy upon thy forefathers!' And he bestowed gifts upon him, and treated him kindly."
- ↑ Said to be the same as the Queen of Sheba, of our Scripture. See sequel to this tale.
- ↑ Hamâlat-el-Hátab—Bearer of wood. A surname given by Muhammad to Umm-Jamîl, the sister of Abu-Sufyân, and wife of Abu-Láhab, the Prophet's uncle and bitter enemy. The 111th chapter of the Kurân is as follows:
Intitled Abu-Láhab—Revealed at el-Mekkah.
In the name of the most merciful God.The hands of Abu-Láhab shall perish, and he shall perish. His riches shall not profit him, neither that which he hath gained. He shall go down to be burned into flaming fire: and his wife also, bearing wood,[sub 1] having on her neck a cord of twisted fibres of a palm-tree.
- ↑ For fuel in hell; because she fomented the hatred which her husband bore to Muhammad; or, bearing a bundle of thorns and brambles, because she carried such and strewed them by night in the Prophet's way.—Sale's Kurân.
