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THE ORIGINS OF THE ISLAMIC STATE

shall not be felled,[1] nor should weapons be carried in it for fight. He, therefore, who does that or harbors in his home one who has done so, may be cursed of Allah and his angels and all men. From him no repentance or ransom shall be accepted."

Rauḥ ibn-ʿAbd-al-Muʾmin al-Baṣri-l-Maḳri from abu-Hurairah:—The Prophet said: "My Lord, Abraham was thy servant and messenger, and so am I thy servant and messenger. And I have made inviolable all that lies between its two stony tracts as Abraham had made Makkah inviolable." Abu-Hurairah used to say: "By him who holds my life in his hands, even if I should find the deer in Baṭiḥân[2] I would not care for them."

Shaibân ibn-abi-Shaibah from Muḥammad ibn-Ziyâd's grandfather (a freedman of ʿUthmân ibn-Maẓʿûn and the holder of a piece of land belonging to the Maẓʿûn family in Harrah) who said:—"ʿUmar ibn-al-Khaṭṭâb with his robe on his head would sometimes call on me at midnight, take a seat and converse with me. I would then bring him cucumbers and vegetables. But one day he said: 'Go not: I have made thee superintendent of this place. Let no one beat a tree with a stick [that its leaves may fall] or cut off a tree (referring to the trees of al-Madînah); and if thou find anyone doing it, take away his rope and ax.' When I asked him, 'Shall I take his robe?' he answered, 'No'."

Abu-Masʿûd ibn-al-Ḳattât from Jaʿfar ibn-Muḥammad's father:—The Prophet declared inviolable all trees growing between Uḥud and ʿAir, allowing [only] the driver of the water-carrying camel to cut al-ghaḍa[3] trees and use them for repairing his ploughs and carts.

  1. Al-Bukhâri, al-Jâmiʿ aṣ-Ṣaḥîḥ, vol. i, p. 40.
  2. Also Baṭḥân or Buṭḥân; see al-Hamdâni, Ṣifat Jazîrat al-ʿArab, p. 124, line 9.
  3. "Of the genus Euphorbia with a woody stem, often 5 or 6 ft. in height, and innumerable round green twigs"—Palgrave's Travels, vol. i, p. 38.