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THE ORIGINS OF THE ISLAMIC STATE

by the throat, he shouted, "O banu-Ḥanîfah, fight for your relatives!" which he repeated until Allah brought about his death.

ʿAbd-al-Wâḥid ibn-Ghiyâth from Hishâm ibn-ʿUrwah's father:—The Arabs forsook the true faith, and abu-Bakr sent Khâlid ibn-al-Walîd who met them and said, "By Allah, I shall never cease until I come face to face with Musailimah!" The Anṣâr objected saying, "This idea is of your own and was not given out by abu-Bakr; take us back to al-Madînah that we may give rest to our horses." "I shall, by Allah, never cease," repeated Khâlid," until I come face to face with Musailimah!" Consequently, the Anṣâr left him. They then said to themselves, "What is this that we have done? If our friends win the victory, we will be reviled; and if they are defeated, we would be the cause of their defeat." Thus they returned and joined Khâlid. The Moslems and the "polythesists" met, and the former took to flight until they got to their place of abode where as-Sâʾib ibn-al-ʿAuwâm stood up and addressed them saying, "Ye have reached, O people, your place of abode; and after his own place of abode, man has no place to flee to!"[1] Finally, Allah caused the defeat of the "polytheists," and Musailimah was killed. Their watchword on that occasion was "O people of the 'Sûrah of the Cow'!"

I was told by one of the inhabitants of al-Yamâmah that some one, who was under the protection of the banu-Ḥanîfah, repeated the following verse when Muḥakkim was killed:

"If I escape from it, I escape from that which is a calamity;
otherwise out of the same vessel I shall drink."

Mujjâʿah makes terms. By this time, the Moslems were

  1. An Arabic proverb.