Sirat Ibn Hisham 1355
The people's fear of meeting Heraclius and b. Rawāḥa's poetry encouraging them
[ تَشْجِيعُ ابْنِ رَوَاحَةَ النَّاسَ عَلَى الْقِتَالِ ] قَالَ: فَشَجَّعَ النَّاسَ عَبْدُ اللَّهِ بْنُ رَوَاحَةَ، وَقَالَ: يَا قَوْمِ، وَاَللَّهِ إنَّ الَّتِي تَكْرَهُونَ، لَلَّتِي خَرَجْتُمْ تَطْلُبُونَ الشَّهَادَةُ، وَمَا نُقَاتِلُ النَّاسَ بِعَدَدِ وَلَا قُوَّةٍ وَلَا كَثْرَةٍ، مَا نُقَاتِلُهُمْ إلَّا بِهَذَا الدِّينِ الَّذِي أَكْرَمَنَا اللَّهُ بِهِ، فَانْطَلِقُوا فَإِنَّمَا هِيَ إحْدَى الْحُسْنَيَيْنِ إمَّا ظُهُورٌ وَإِمَّا شَهَادَةٌ. قَالَ: فَقَالَ النَّاسُ: قَدْ وَاَللَّهِ صَدَقَ ابْنُ رَوَاحَةَ. فَمَضَى النَّاسُ فَقَالَ عَبْدُ اللَّهِ بْنُ رَوَاحَةَ فِي مَحْبِسِهِمْ ذَلِكَ: جَلَبْنَا الْخَيْلَ مِنْ أَجَإٍ وَفَرْعٍ تُغَرُّ مِنْ الْحَشِيشِ لَهَا الْعُكُومُ حَذَوْنَاهَا مِنْ الصَّوَّانِ سِبْتًا أَزَلَّ كَأَنَّ صَفْحَتَهُ أَدِيمُ أَقَامَتْ لَيْلَتَيْنِ عَلَى مَعَانٍ فَأَعْقَبَ بَعْدَ فَتْرَتِهَا جُمُومُ فَرُحْنَا وَالْجِيَادُ مُسَوَّمَاتٌ تَنَفَّسُ فِي مَنَاخِرِهَا السَّمُومُ فَلَا وَأَبِي مَآبَ لَنَأْتِيَنْهَا وَإِنْ كَانَتْ بِهَا عَرَبٌ وَرُومُ فَعَبَّأْنَا أَعِنَّتَهَا فَجَاءَتْ عَوَابِسَ وَالْغُبَارُ لَهَا بَرِيمُ بِذِي لَجَبٍ كَأَنَّ الْبَيْضَ فِيهِ إذَا بَرَزَتْ قَوَانِسُهَا النُّجُومُ فَرَاضِيَةُ الْمَعِيشَةِ طَلَّقَتْهَا أَسِنَّتُهَا فَتَنْكِحُ أَوْ تَئِيمُ قَالَ ابْنُ هِشَامٍ: وَيُرْوَى: جَلَبْنَا الْخَيْلَ مِنْ آجَامِ قُرْحٍ، وَقَوْلُهُ: فَعَبَّأْنَا أَعِنَّتَهَا عَنْ غَيْرِ ابْنِ إسْحَاقَ. قَالَ ابْنُ إسْحَاقَ: ثُمَّ مَضَى النَّاسُ فَحَدَّثَنِي عَبْدُ اللَّهِ بْنُ أَبِي بَكْرٍ أَنَّهُ حُدِّثَ عَنْ زَيْدِ بْنِ أَرْقَمَ، قَالَ: كُنْتُ يَتِيمًا لِعَبْدِ اللَّهِ بْنِ رَوَاحَةَ فِي حَجْرِهِ، فَخَرَجَ بِي فِي سَفَرِهِ ذَلِكَ مُرْدِفِي عَلَى حَقِيبَةِ رَحْلِهِ، فَوَاَللَّهِ إنَّهُ لَيَسِيرُ لَيْلَةً إذْ سَمِعْتُهُ وَهُوَ يُنْشِدُ أَبْيَاتَهُ هَذِهِ. إذَا أَدَّيْتِنِي وَحَمَلْتِ رَحْلِي مَسِيرَةَ أَرْبَعٍ بَعْدَ الْحِسَاءِ فَشَأْنُكَ أَنْعُمٌ وَخَلَّاكِ ذَمٌّ وَلَا أَرْجِعْ إلَى أَهْلِي وَرَائِي وَجَاءَ الْمُسْلِمُونَ وَغَادَرُونِي بِأَرْضِ الشَّامِ مُشْتَهِيَ الثَّوَاءِ وَرَدَّكَ كُلُّ ذِي نَسَبٍ قَرِيبٍ إلَى الرَّحْمَنِ مُنْقَطِعَ الْإِخَاءِ هُنَالِكَ لَا أُبَالِي طَلْعَ بَعْلٍ وَلَا نَخْلٍ أَسَافِلُهَا رِوَاءُ فَلَمَّا سَمِعْتُهُنَّ مِنْهُ بَكَيْتُ قَالَ: فَخَفَقَنِي بِالدِّرَّةِ، وَقَالَ: مَا عَلَيْكَ يَا لُكَعُ أَنْ يَرْزُقَنِي اللَّهُ شَهَادَةً وَتَرْجِعَ بَيْنَ شُعْبَتَيْ الرَّحْلِ قَالَ: ثُمَّ قَالَ عَبْدُ اللَّهِ بْنُ رَوَاحَةَ فِي بَعْضِ سَفَرِهِ ذَلِكَ وَهُوَ يَرْتَجِزُ: يَا زَيْدُ زَيْدَ الْيَعْمَلَاتِ الذُّبَّلِ تَطَاوَلَ اللَّيْلُ هُدِيتَ فَانْزِلْ
Translation
✧ [Ibn Rawāḥah's encouragement of the people to fight] He said: ʿAbd Allāh b. Rawāḥah encouraged the people and said: 'O my people, by God, that which you dislike is the very thing for which you went out seeking—martyrdom. We do not fight people by number, nor by strength, nor by multitude. We fight them only by this religion with which God has honored us. So go forth, for it is but one of the two best things: either victory or martyrdom.' He said: The people said: 'By God, Ibn Rawāḥah has spoken the truth.' So the people went on. ʿAbd Allāh b. Rawāḥah said concerning their halt: 'We brought the horses from Ajaʾ and Farʿ; the grass made them sleek, and they had loaded saddlebags. We shod them from flint with tough leather soles, as smooth as if its side were tanned hide. They halted two nights at Maʿān; after their slackness came high spirits. We set out in the morning with the steeds branded, the hot wind breathing in their nostrils. No, by the father of my returning-place, we shall surely come to them, even if Arabs and Byzantines are in it. We arrayed their reins, and they came frowning, while the dust for them was a twisted rope. With a host of clamor, as if the helmets in it, when their peaks appeared, were stars. The contented life—its spears have divorced it, so it may marry or be husbandless.' Ibn Hishām said: It is also recited: 'We brought the horses from the thickets of Qurḥ,' and his saying 'We arrayed their reins' is from other than Ibn Isḥāq. Ibn Isḥāq said: Then the people went on. ʿAbd Allāh b. Abī Bakr related to me that he was told on the authority of Zayd b. Arqam, who said: I was an orphan in the care of ʿAbd Allāh b. Rawāḥah, under his guardianship. He took me out on that journey of his, riding behind him on the pillion of his saddle. By God, while he was traveling by night, I heard him reciting these verses of his: 'When you have carried me and borne my saddle a journey of four nights after al-Ḥisāʾ, then your affair is ease, and blame leaves you; and I shall not return to my family behind me. The Muslims came and left me in the land of Syria, desiring the abode. And every close relative has returned you to the Merciful, cut off from brotherhood. There I care not for the sprouting of untended palms, nor for palm trees whose lower parts are well-watered.' When I heard them from him, I wept. He said: He struck me with the whip and said: 'What is it to you, you little fool, if God grants me martyrdom and you return between the two forks of the saddle?' He said: Then ʿAbd Allāh b. Rawāḥah said during part of that journey of his, while chanting in rajaz meter: 'O Zayd, Zayd of the swift, slender camels, the night has grown long—may you be guided—so dismount.'
Grades by grader
No grade is recorded for this wording.