Tarikh (al-Tabari) 692
The reports of the Jewish rabbis, Christian monks, and soothsayers and their glad tidings of the sending of the Beloved of the Most Merciful ﷺ
[ مَا جَرَى بَيْنَ عُمَرَ بْنِ الْخَطَّابِ وَسَوَادِ بْنِ قَارِبٍ ] قَالَ ابْنُ إسْحَاقَ: وَحَدَّثَنِي مَنْ لَا أَتَّهِمُ عَنْ عَبْدِ اللَّهِ بْنِ كَعْبٍ، مَوْلَى عُثْمَانَ بْنِ عَفَّانَ، أَنَّهُ حَدَّثَ: أَنَّ عُمَرَ بْنَ الْخَطَّابِ، بَيْنَا هُوَ جَالِسٌ فِي النَّاسِ فِي مَسْجِدِ رَسُولِ اللَّهِ ﷺ، إذْ أَقْبَلَ رَجُلٌ مِنْ الْعَرَبِ دَاخِلًا الْمَسْجِدَ، يُرِيدُ عُمْرَ بْنَ الْخَطَّابِ، فَلَمَّا نَظَرَ إلَيْهِ عُمَرُ ؓ، قَالَ: إنَّ هَذَا الرَّجُلُ لَعَلَى شِرْكِهِ مَا فَارَقَهُ بَعْدُ، أَوْ لَقَدْ كَانَ كَاهِنًا فِي الْجَاهِلِيَّةِ. فَسَلَّمَ عَلَيْهِ الرَّجُلُ، ثُمَّ جَلَسَ، فَقَالَ لَهُ عُمَرُ ؓ: هَلْ أَسْلَمْتَ ؟ قَالَ: نَعَمْ يَا أَمِيرَ الْمُؤْمِنِينَ، قَالَ لَهُ: فَهَلْ كُنْتَ كَاهِنًا فِي الْجَاهِلِيَّةِ ؟ فَقَالَ الرَّجُلُ: سُبْحَانَ اللَّهِ يَا أَمِيرَ الْمُؤْمِنِينَ لَقَدْ خِلْتَ فِيَّ، وَاسْتَقْبَلْتنِي بِأَمْرٍ مَا أَرَاكَ قُلْتَهُ لِأَحَدٍ مِنْ رَعِيَّتِكَ مُنْذُ وُلِّيتَ مَا وُلِّيتَ؛ فَقَالَ عُمَرُ: اللَّهُمَّ غُفْرًا، قَدْ كُنَّا فِي الْجَاهِلِيَّةِ عَلَى شَرٍّ مِنْ هَذَا، نَعْبُدُ الْأَصْنَامَ، وَنَعْتَنِقُ الْأَوْثَانَ، حَتَّى أَكْرَمْنَا اللَّهُ بِرَسُولِهِ وَبِالْإِسْلَامِ؛ قَالَ: نَعَمْ، وَاَللَّهِ يَا أَمِيرَ الْمُؤْمِنِينَ، لَقَدْ كُنْتُ كَاهِنًا فِي الْجَاهِلِيَّةِ؛ قَالَ: فَأَخْبرنِي مَا جَاءَكَ بِهِ صَاحِبُكَ، قَالَ: جَاءَنِي قَبْلَ الْإِسْلَامِ بِشَهْرٍ أَوْ شَيْعِهِ، فَقَالَ: أَلَمْ تَرَ إلَى الْجِنِّ وَإِبْلَاسِهَا، وَإِيَاسِهَا مِنْ دِينِهَا، وَلُحُوقِهَا بِالْقِلَاصِ وَأَحْلَاسِهَا. قَالَ ابْنُ هِشَامٍ: هَذَا الْكَلَامُ سَجْعٌ، وَلَيْسَ بِشِعْرٍ. قَالَ عَبْدُ اللَّهِ بْنُ كَعْبٍ: فَقَالَ عُمَرُ بْنُ الْخَطَّابِ عِنْدَ ذَلِكَ يُحَدِّثُ النَّاسَ: وَاَللَّهِ إنِّي لَعِنْدَ وَثَنٍ مِنْ أَوْثَانِ الْجَاهِلِيَّةِ فِي نَفَرٍ مِنْ قُرَيْشٍ، قَدْ ذَبَحَ لَهُ رَجُلٌ مِنْ الْعَرَبِ عِجْلًا، فَنَحْنُ نَنْتَظِرُ قَسْمَهُ لِيَقْسِمَ لَنَا مِنْهُ، إذْ سَمِعْتُ مِنْ جَوْفِ الْعِجْلِ صَوْتًا مَا سَمِعْتُ صَوْتًا قَطُّ أَنْفَذَ مِنْهُ، وَذَلِكَ قُبَيْلَ الْإِسْلَامِ بِشَهْرٍ أَوْ شَيْعِهِ، يَقُولُ: يَا ذَرِيحُ، أَمْرٌ نَجِيحٌ، رَجُلٌ يَصِيحُ، يَقُولُ: لَا إلَهَ إلَّا اللَّهُ قَالَ ابْنُ هِشَامٍ: وَيُقَالُ: رَجُلٌ يَصِيحُ، بِلِسَانٍ فَصِيحٍ، يَقُولُ: لَا إلَهَ إلَّا اللَّهُ. وَأَنْشَدَنِي بَعْضُ أَهْلِ الْعِلْمِ بِالشِّعْرِ: : عَجِبْتُ لِلْجِنِّ وَإِبْلَاسِهَا وَشَدِّهَا الْعِيسَ بِأَحْلَاسِهَا تَهْوِي إلَى مَكَّةَ تَبْغِي الْهُدَى مَا مُؤْمِنُو الْجِنِّ كَأَنْجَاسِهَا قَالَ ابْنُ إسْحَاقَ: فَهَذَا مَا بَلَغَنَا مِنْ الْكُهَّانِ مِنْ الْعَرَبِ.
Translation
✧ [What passed between ʿUmar b. al-Khaṭṭāb and Sawād b. Qārib] Ibn Isḥāq said: And someone I do not suspect narrated to me from ʿAbd Allāh b. Kaʿb, the mawlā of ʿUthmān b. ʿAffān, that he related: that while ʿUmar b. al-Khaṭṭāb was sitting among the people in the Mosque of the Messenger of God ﷺ, a man of the Arabs came entering the mosque, seeking ʿUmar b. al-Khaṭṭāb. When ʿUmar ؓ saw him, he said: "This man is still upon his polytheism, which he has not left, or he was a soothsayer in the Age of Ignorance." The man greeted him and then sat down. ʿUmar ؓ said to him: "Have you become a Muslim?" He said: "Yes, O Commander of the Faithful." He said to him: "Were you a soothsayer in the Age of Ignorance?" The man said: "Glory be to God, O Commander of the Faithful! You have thought ill of me and received me with a matter I do not think you have said to any of your subjects since you assumed the office you have assumed." Then ʿUmar said: "O God, forgive! In the Age of Ignorance we were upon worse than this: we worshipped idols and embraced the divinities, until God honored us with His Messenger and with Islam." He said: "Yes, by God, O Commander of the Faithful, I was a soothsayer in the Age of Ignorance." He said: "Tell me what your companion brought to you." He said: "He came to me a month before Islam, or about that, and said: 'Have you not seen the jinn and their despair, and their loss of hope in their religion, and their joining the young camels and their saddle-cloths?'" Ibn Hishām said: This speech is rhymed prose, not poetry. ʿAbd Allāh b. Kaʿb said: Then ʿUmar b. al-Khaṭṭāb said while telling the people: "By God, I was at an idol of the idols of the Age of Ignorance in a group of Quraysh, and a man of the Arabs had slaughtered a calf for it, and we were waiting for its division so that he might divide some of it for us, when I heard from inside the calf a voice more piercing than any voice I have ever heard, and that was a month before Islam, or about that, saying: 'O Dharīḥ, a successful affair, a man crying out, saying: There is no god but God.'" Ibn Hishām said: And it is said: a man crying out, with an eloquent tongue, saying: There is no god but God. And some of the people of knowledge recited poetry to me: : I marveled at the jinn and their despair, and their urging the white camels with their saddle-cloths, They rush to Makkah seeking guidance, The believers among the jinn are not like their impure ones. Ibn Isḥāq said: This is what has reached us about the soothsayers among the Arabs.
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