Muhammad: Seal of the Prophets — Page 428
MUHAMMAD : SEAL OF THE PROPHETS 428 had killed Hamzah, the uncle of the Holy Prophet, on the day of Uhud. The third false claimant was Aswad Ansi of Yemen, who abjured Islam during the Holy Prophet’s lifetime. A prince of wealth and influence in the south, he assumed the garb of a magician, and gave out that he was in communication with the unseen world. He pr osecuted his claims at first secretly, and gained over the chieftains in the neighbourhood who were dissatisfied with the distribution of power upon the death of Badhan. About the close of the tenth year of the Hijra, he openly raised the standard of rebel lion, and drove out the officers of the Holy Prophet. Advancing on Najran, which rose in his favour, he suddenly fell on San’a, where, having killed Shehr the son of Badhan, he put his army to flight, married his widow, and established himself in undispute d authority. The insurrection, fanned by this sudden success, spread quickly, and the greater part of the country lying between Bahrain, Taif and the coast, was reduced to his authority. On intimation of this rebellion reaching the Holy Prophet, he content ed himself with dispatching letters to his officers on the spot to deal with the rebel according to the means at their disposal. Aswad, in the pride of conquest, had already begun to slight the commanders to whose bravery he was indebted for success. The o fficers of the Holy Prophet opened up secret negotiations with them, and, favoured by the tyrant’s wife, who detested him and burned to avenge her late husband’s death, soon put an end to the usurper, just before the death of the Holy Prophet. After his return from the Farewell Pilgrimage, the Holy