Tarikh (al-Tabari) 2184
The caliphate of Muʿāwiyah b. Abī Sufyān
قِصَّةُ ابْنِ أُمِّ الْحَكَمِ مَعَ الْأَعْرَابِيِّ وَجَرَتْ لِعَبْدِ الرَّحْمَنِ ابْنِ أُمِّ الْحَكَمِ قِصَّةٌ عَجِيبَةٌ فعَنْ هِشَامِ بْنِ عُرْوَةَ، قَالَ: أَذِنَ مُعَاوِيَةُ بْنُ أَبِي سُفْيَانَ يَوْمًا، فَكَانَ فِيمَنْ دَخَلَ عَلَيْهِ فَتًى مِنْ بَنِي عُذْرَةَ، فَلَمَّا أَخَذَ النَّاسُ مَجَالِسَهُمْ قَامَ الْفَتَى الْعُذْرِيُّ بَيْنَ السِّمَاطَيْنِ ثُمَّ أَنْشَأَ يَقُولُ شِعْرًا مَضْمُونُهُ التَّشَوُّقُ إِلَى زَوْجَتِهِ سُعَادَ مُعَاوِيَ يَا ذَا الْفَضْلِ وَالْحُكْمِ وَالْعَقْلِ وَذَا الْبِرِّ وَالْإِحْسَانِ وَالْجُودِ وَالْبَذْلِ أَتَيْتُكَ لَمَّا ضَاقَ فِي الْأَرْضِ مَسْلَكِي وَأَنْكَرْتُ مِمَّا قَدْ أُصِبْتُ بِهِ عَقْلِي فَفَرِّجْ كَلَاكَ اللَّهُ عَنِّي فَإِنَّنِي لَقِيتُ الَّذِي لَمْ يَلْقَهُ أَحَدٌ قَبْلِي وَخُذْ لِي هَدَاكَ اللَّهُ حَقِّي مِنَ الَّذِي رَمَانِي بِسَهْمٍ كَانَ أَهْوَنَهُ قَتْلِي وَكُنْتُ أُرَجِّيَ عَدْلَهُ إِنْ أَتَيْتُهُ فَأَكْثَرَ تِرْدَادِي مَعَ الْحَبْسِ وَالْكَبْلِ فَطَلَّقْتُهَا مِنْ جَهْدِ مَا قَدْ أَصَابَنِي فَهَذَا أَمِيرُ الْمُؤْمِنِينَ مِنَ الْعَذَلِ فَقَالَ مُعَاوِيَةُ: ادْنُ بَارَكَ اللَّهُ عَلَيْكَ، مَا خَطْبُكَ ؟ فَقَالَ: أَطَالَ اللَّهُ بَقَاءَ أَمِيرِ الْمُؤْمِنِينَ، إِنَّنِي رَجُلٌ مِنْ بَنِي عُذْرَةَ، تَزَوَّجْتُ ابْنَةَ عَمٍّ لِي، وَكَانَتْ لِي صِرْمَةٌ مِنْ إِبِلٍ وَشُوَيْهَاتٌ، فَأَنْفَقْتُ ذَلِكَ عَلَيْهَا، فَلَمَّا أَصَابَتْنِي نَائِبَةُ الزَّمَانِ وَحَادِثَاتُ الدَّهْرِ رَغِبَ عَنِّي أَبُوهَا، وَكَانَتْ جَارِيَةً فِيهَا الْحَيَاءُ وَالْكَرَمُ، فَكَرِهَتْ مُحَالَفَةَ أَبِيهَا، فَأَتَيْتُ عَامِلَكَ ابْنَ أُمِّ الْحَكَمِ فَذَكَرْتُ ذَلِكَ لَهُ، وَبَلَغَهُ جَمَالُهَا، فَأَعْطَى أَبَاهَا عَشْرَةَ آلَافِ دِرْهَمٍ وَتَزَوَّجَهَا وَأَخَذَنِي فَحَبَسَنِي وَضَيَّقَ عَلَيَّ، فَلَمَّا أَصَابَنِي مَسُّ الْحَدِيدِ وَأَلَمُ الْعَذَابِ طَلَّقْتُهَا، وَقَدْ أَتَيْتُكَ يَا أَمِيرَ الْمُؤْمِنِينَ وَأَنْتَ غِيَاثُ الْمَحْرُوبِ وَسَنَدُ الْمَسْلُوبِ، فَهَلْ مِنْ فَرَجٍ، ثُمَّ بَكَى وَقَالَ فِي بُكَائِهِ: فِي الْقَلْبِ مِنِّي نَارٌ وَالنَّارُ فِيهَا شَرَارُ وَالْجِسْمُ مِنِّي نَحِيلٌ وَاللَّوْنُ فِيهِ اصْفِرَارُ وَالْعَيْنُ تَبْكِي بِشَجْوٍ وَدَمْعُهَا مِدْرَارُ وَالْحُبُّ دَاءٌ عَسِيرٌ فِيهِ الطَّبِيبُ يَحَارُ حَمَلْتُ مِنْهُ عَظِيمًا فَمَا عَلَيْهِ اصْطِبَارٌ فَلَيْسَ لَيْلِي بِلَيْلٍ وَلَا نَهَارِي نَهَارُ فَرَقَّ لَهُ مُعَاوِيَةُ وَكَتَبَ لَهُ إِلَى ابْنِ أُمِّ الْحَكَمِ كِتَابًا غَلِيظًا، وَكَتَبَ فِي آخِرِهِ يَقُولُ: رَكِبْتَ أَمْرًا عَظِيمًا لَسْتُ أَعْرِفُهُ أَسْتَغْفِرُ اللَّهَ مِنْ جَوْرِ امْرِئٍ زَانٍ قَدْ كُنْتَ تُشْبِهُ صُوفِيًّا لَهُ كُتُبٌ مِنَ الْفَرَائِضِ أَوْ آثَارِ فُرْقَانٍ حَتَّى أَتَانِي الْفَتَى الْعُذْرِيُّ مُنْتَحِبًا يَشْكُو إِلَيَّ بِحَقٍّ غَيْرِ بُهْتَانٍ أَعْطَى الْإِلَهُ عُهُودًا لَا أَجِيشُ بِهَا أَوْ لَا فَبُرِّئْتَ مِنْ دِينٍ وَإِيمَانٍ إِنْ أَنْتَ رَاجَعْتَنِي فِيمَا كَتَبْتُ بِهِ لَأَجْعَلَنَّكَ لَحْمًا عِنْدَ عُقْبَانٍ طَلِّقْ سُعَادَ وَفَارِقْهَا بِمُجْتَمَعٍ وَأَشْهِدْ عَلَى ذَاكَ نَصْرًا وَابْنَ ظَبْيَانِ فَمَا سَمِعْتُ كَمَا بُلِّغْتُ مِنْ عَجَبٍ وَلَا فِعَالُكَ حَقًّا فِعْلُ فِتْيَانٍ فَلَمَّا وَرَدَ كِتَابُ مُعَاوِيَةَ عَلَى ابْنِ أُمِّ الْحَكَمِ تَنَفَّسَ الصُّعَدَاءَ وَقَالَ: وَدِدْتُ أَنَّ أَمِيرَ الْمُؤْمِنِينَ خَلَّى بَيْنِي وَبَيْنَهَا سَنَةً ثُمَّ عَرَضَنِي عَلَى السَّيْفِ، وَجَعَلَ يُؤَامِرُ نَفْسَهُ فِي طَلَاقِهَا فَلَا يَقْدِرُ، فَلَمَّا أَزْعَجَهُ الْوَفْدُ طَلَّقَهَا، ثُمَّ قَالَ: يَا سُعَادُ، اخْرُجِي، فَخَرَجَتْ شَكِلَةً غَنِجَةً، ذَاتَ هَيْئَةٍ وَجَمَالٍ، فَلَمَّا رَآهَا الْوَفْدُ قَالُوا: مَا تَصْلُحُ هَذِهِ إِلَّا لِأَمِيرِ الْمُؤْمِنِينَ لَا لِأَعْرَابِيٍّ، وَكَتَبَ جَوَابَ كِتَابِهِ يَقُولُ: لَا تَحْنَثَنَّ أَمِيرَ الْمُؤْمِنِينَ فَقَدْ أَوْفَى بِعَهْدِكَ فِي رِفْقٍ وَإِحْسَانٍ وَمَا رَكِبْتُ حَرَامًا حَيْثُ أَعْجَبَنِي فَكَيْفَ سُمِّيتُ بِاسْمِ الْخَائِنِ الزَّانِ وَسَوْفَ يَأْتِيكَ شَمْسٌ لَا خَفَاءَ بِهَا أَبْهَى الْبَرِيَّةِ مِنْ إِنْسٍ وَمِنْ جَانٍ حَوْرَاءُ يَقْصُرُ عَنْهَا الْوَصْفُ إِنْ وُصِفَتْ أَقُولُ ذَلِكَ فِي سِرٍّ وَإِعْلَانٍ فَلَمَّا وَرَدَ الْكِتَابُ عَلَى مُعَاوِيَةَ، قَالَ: إِنْ كَانَتْ أُعْطِيَتْ حُسْنَ النِّعْمَةِ عَلَى هَذِهِ الصِّفَةِ فَهِيَ أَكْمَلُ الْبَرِيَّةِ، فَاسْتَنْطَقَهَا فَإِذَا هِيَ أَحْسَنُ النَّاسِ كَلَامًا وَأَكْمَلُهُمْ شَكْلًا وَدِلًّا، فَقَالَ: يَا أَعْرَابِيُّ فَهَلْ مِنْ سَلْوٍ عَنْهَا بِأَفْضَلِ الرَّغْبَةِ، قَالَ: نَعَمْ إِذَا فَرَّقْتَ بَيْنَ رَأْسِي وَجَسَدِي، ثُمَّ أَنْشَأَ يَقُولُ: لَا تَجْعَلْنِي وَالْأَمْثَالُ تُضْرَبُ بِي كَالْمُسْتَغِيثِ مِنَ الرَّمْضَاءِ بِالنَّارِ ارْدُدْ سُعَادَ عَلَى حَيْرَانَ مُكْتَئِبٍ يُمْسِي وَيُصْبِحُ فِي هَمٍّ وَتِذْكَارِ قَدْ شَفَّهُ قَلَقٌ مَا مِثْلُهُ قَلَقٌ وَأُسْعِرَ الْقَلْبُ مِنْهُ أَيَّ إِسْعَارِ وَاللَّهِ وَاللَّهِ لَا أَنْسَى مَحَبَّتَهَا حَتَّى أُغَيَّبَ فِي رَمْسٍ وَأَحْجَارِ كَيْفَ السَّلْوُ وَقَدْ هَامَ الْفُؤَادُ بِهَا وَأَصْبَحَ الْقَلْبُ عَنْهَا غَيْرَ صَبَّارِ قَالَ: فَغَضِبَ مُعَاوِيَةُ غَضَبًا شَدِيدًا، ثُمَّ قَالَ لَهَا: اخْتَارِي إِنْ شِئْتِ أَنَا، وَإِنْ شِئْتِ ابْنَ أُمِّ الْحَكَمِ، وَإِنْ شِئْتِ الْأَعْرَابِيَّ. فَأَنْشَأَتْ سُعَادُ وَارْتَجَزَتْ تَقُولُ: هَذَا وَإِنْ أَصْبَحَ فِي الْخِمَارِ وَكَانَ فِي نَقْصٍ مِنَ الْيَسَارِ أَكْثَرُ عِنْدِي مِنْ أَبِي وَجَارِي وَصَاحِبِ الدِّرْهَمِ وَالدِّينَارِ أَخْشَى إِذَا غَدَرْتُ حَرَّ النَّارِ فَقَالَ مُعَاوِيَةُ: خُذْهَا لَا بَارَكَ اللَّهُ لَكَ فِيهَا. فَارْتَجَزَ الْأَعْرَابِيُّ يَقُولُ: خَلُّوا عَنِ الطَّرِيقِ لِلْأَعْرَابِيِّ أَلَمْ تَرِقُّوا وَيْحَكُمْ لِمَا بِي قَالَ: فَضَحِكَ مُعَاوِيَةُ وَأَمَرَ لَهُ بِعَشْرَةِ آلَافِ دِرْهَمٍ وَنَاقَةٍ وَوِطَاءٍ. وَأَمَرَ بِهَا فَأُدْخِلَتْ فِي بَعْضِ قُصُورِهِ حَتَّى انْقَضَتْ عِدَّتُهَا مِنَ ابْنِ أُمِّ الْحَكَمِ، ثُمَّ أَمَرَ بِدَفْعِهَا إِلَى الْأَعْرَابِيِّ.
Translation
✧ The story of Ibn Umm al-Ḥakam with the Bedouin A strange story happened regarding ʿAbd al-Raḥmān b. Umm al-Ḥakam. On the authority of Hishām b. ʿUrwah, who said: Muʿāwiyah b. Abī Sufyān held audience one day, and among those who entered upon him was a young man from Banū ʿUdhrah. When the people had taken their seats, the ʿUdhrī youth stood between the two rows, then began to recite poetry whose purport was longing for his wife Suʿād: Muʿāwiyah, O possessor of excellence, judgment, and intellect, and of piety, kindness, generosity, and liberality, I have come to you when my path on earth became constricted, And I denied, because of what had befallen me, my reason. So relieve me, may God protect you, for I Have encountered what no one before me has encountered. And take for me, may God guide you, my right against the one Who struck me with an arrow whose lightest [wound] would have killed me. I had hoped for his justice if I came to him, But he increased my shuttling back and forth along with imprisonment and fetters. So I divorced her out of the distress of what had befallen me, And here is the Commander of the Faithful to judge the blame. Muʿāwiyah said: "Come near, may God bless you. What is your affair?" He said: "May God prolong the life of the Commander of the Faithful. I am a man from Banū ʿUdhrah. I married my cousin, and I had a small herd of camels and a few sheep, and I spent that on her. When the calamities of time and the misfortunes of fate befell me, her father turned away from me. She was a girl possessed of modesty and generosity, so she disliked opposing her father. I came to your governor Ibn Umm al-Ḥakam and mentioned that to him, and he had heard of her beauty. He gave her father ten thousand dirhams and married her, then seized me and imprisoned me and pressed hard upon me. When the touch of iron and the pain of torture afflicted me, I divorced her. I have come to you, O Commander of the Faithful, for you are the succor of the oppressed and the support of the plundered. Is there any relief?" Then he wept and said in his weeping: In my heart is a fire, and the fire has sparks, And my body is emaciated, and my color has turned yellow. The eye weeps with grief, and its tears pour down, And love is a severe disease in which the physician is bewildered. I have borne from it a great thing for which there is no endurance, So my night is not night, nor is my day day. Muʿāwiyah felt compassion for him and wrote him a harsh letter to Ibn Umm al-Ḥakam. At the end of it he wrote, saying: You have committed a grave matter that I do not recognize; I seek God's forgiveness from the injustice of a fornicating man. You used to resemble a Sufi who has books Of religious obligations or traces of the Qurʾān, Until the ʿUdhrī youth came to me weeping, Complaining to me with a true claim, not slander. God has given covenants I shall not break, Or else you are absolved of religion and faith. If you send back to me regarding what I have written, I will make you flesh before vultures. Divorce Suʿād and leave her in an assembly, And call to witness for that Naṣr and Ibn Ẓabyān. I have never heard of such a wonder as has been reported to me, Nor is your deed truly the deed of young men. When Muʿāwiyah's letter reached Ibn Umm al-Ḥakam, he heaved a deep sigh and said: "I wish the Commander of the Faithful had left me alone with her for a year and then had me executed by the sword." He began to deliberate with himself about divorcing her, but he was unable. When the delegation urged him, he divorced her. Then he said: "O Suʿād, come out." She came out coquettish and flirtatious, possessed of appearance and beauty. When the delegation saw her, they said: "This one is fit only for the Commander of the Faithful, not for a Bedouin." He wrote his reply, saying: Do not break your oath, Commander of the Faithful, for I Have fulfilled your covenant with gentleness and kindness. I committed no forbidden act when she pleased me, So how have I been called by the name of the treacherous fornicator? A sun will come to you, undisguised, The most radiant of creation, of humans and jinn, A ḥūrī beyond description if described; I say that in secret and in public. When the letter reached Muʿāwiyah, he said: "If she has been given the beauty of grace as described, then she is the most perfect of creation." He asked her to speak, and behold, she was the best of people in speech and the most perfect in form and coquetry. He said: "O Bedouin, is there any consolation from her with the best of desire?" He said: "Yes, when you separate my head from my body." Then he began to say: Do not make me, when proverbs are coined about me, Like one who seeks help from the burning ground with fire. Return Suʿād to a bewildered, sorrowful man Who spends evening and morning in grief and remembrance. Anxiety has emaciated him, the like of which no anxiety exists, And the heart has been set ablaze by her with the utmost blaze. By God, by God, I will not forget her love Until I am hidden in a grave and under stones. How can there be consolation when the heart is infatuated with her, And the heart has become unable to endure without her? He said: Muʿāwiyah became extremely angry, then said to her: "Choose: if you wish, me; if you wish, Ibn Umm al-Ḥakam; if you wish, the Bedouin." Suʿād began and recited in rajaz: This one, even if he has become in the veil And was in deficiency of wealth, Is dearer to me than my father and my neighbor And the possessor of dirham and dinar. I fear, if I betray, the heat of the Fire. Muʿāwiyah said: "Take her, may God not bless you in her." The Bedouin recited in rajaz, saying: Clear the way for the Bedouin! Have you no pity, woe to you, for what is in me? He said: Muʿāwiyah laughed and ordered for him ten thousand dirhams, a she-camel, and bedding. He ordered that she be brought into one of his palaces until her waiting period from Ibn Umm al-Ḥakam ended, then ordered that she be handed over to the Bedouin.
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