Sirat Ibn Hisham 235
The alarm of Thaqīf at the pelting of the jinn with stars and their questioning of ʿAmr b. Umayya
[ فَزَعُ ثَقِيفٍ مِنْ رَمْيِ الْجِنِّ بِالنُّجُومِ، وَسُؤَالُهُمْ عَمْرِو بْنِ أُمِّيَّةَ ] قَالَ ابْنُ إسْحَاقَ: وَحَدَّثَنِي يَعْقُوبُ بْنُ عُتْبَةَ بْنِ الْمُغِيرَةِ بْنِ الْأَخْنَسِ أَنَّهُ حَدَّثَ أَنَّ أَوَّلَ الْعَرَبِ فَزِعَ لِلرَّمْيِ بِالنُّجُومِ حَيْنَ رُمِيَ بِهَا، هَذَا الْحَيُّ مِنْ ثَقِيفٍ، وَأَنَّهُمْ جَاءُوا إلَى رَجُلٍ مِنْهُمْ يُقَالُ لَهُ عَمْرُو بْنُ أُمِّيَّةَ، أَحَدُ بَنِي عِلَاجٍ - قَالَ: وَكَانَ أَدْهَى الْعَرَبِ وَأَنْكَرَهَا رَأْيًا - فَقَالُوا لَهُ: يَا عَمْرُو: أَلَمْ تَرَ مَا حَدَثَ فِي السَّمَاءِ مِنْ الْقَذْفِ بِهَذِهِ النُّجُومِ ؟ قَالَ: بَلَى، فَانْظُرُوا، فَإِنْ كَانَتْ مَعَالِمَ النُّجُومِ الَّتِي يُهْتَدَى بِهَا فِي الْبَرِّ وَالْبَحْرِ، وَتُعْرَفُ بِهَا الْأَنْوَاءُ مِنْ الصَّيْفِ وَالشِّتَاءِ، لِمَا يُصْلِحُ النَّاسَ فِي مَعَايِشِهِمْ، هِيَ الَّتِي يُرْمَى بِهَا، فَهُوَ وَاَللَّهِ طَيُّ الدُّنْيَا، وَهَلَاكُ هَذَا الْخَلْقِ الَّذِي فِيهَا؛ وَإِنْ كَانَتْ نُجُومًا غَيْرَهَا، وَهِيَ ثَابِتَةٌ عَلَى حَالِهَا، فَهَذَا لِأَمْرٍ أَرَادَ اللَّهُ بِهِ هَذَا الْخَلْقَ، فَمَا هُوَ ؟
Translation
✧ [Thaqīf's alarm at the pelting of the jinn with meteors and their questioning of ʿAmr b. Umayyah] Ibn Isḥāq said: Yaʿqūb b. ʿUtbah b. al-Mughīrah b. al-Akhnas related to me that he related that the first of the Arabs to be alarmed at the pelting with meteors, when they were pelted with them, were this clan of Thaqīf, and that they came to a man of theirs called ʿAmr b. Umayyah, one of the Banū ʿIlāj—he said: he was the most cunning of the Arabs and the most astute in judgment—and they said to him: "O ʿAmr, have you not seen what has occurred in the sky of the hurling of these meteors?" He said: "Yes, so look: if the well-known stars by which one is guided on land and sea, and by which the rains of summer and winter are known, for what benefits people in their livelihoods—are the ones being pelted with, then, by God, it is the folding up of the world and the destruction of this creation that is in it. But if they are stars other than those, while those remain fixed in their state, then this is for a matter that God has willed for this creation. So what is it?"
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