Muhammad and The Jews — Page 53
THE JEWISH SUPPORT TO MEDINAN OPPOSITION more Joyal and faithful to Its allies, when they call on it, Than that of the children of Qayla (the Aws and Kha zraj) as a whole. The mountains will crumble before they submit Yet here is a rider come among them who had divided them. (He says) 'This is permitted; this is forbidden' to all kinds of things. But if you had believed in power And in might, why did you not follow a tubba. 1 Abii ""Afak in effect asked: The Tubba~ was after all a south Arabian king of great reputation, but you resisted him; now what has happened to you that you have accepted the claims of a Meccan refugee? ""A~mii" bint Marwan2 was more forceful and forthright : Fucked men of Malik and Niibit And of ~Awf, fucked men of Khazraj You obey a stranger who does not belong among you, Who is not of Murad, nor of Madh'bij (Yemenite tribes) Do you, when your own chiefs have been murdered, hope in him Like men greedy for meal soup when it is cooking? Is there no man of honour who will take advantage of an unguarded moment And cut off the gulls' hopes? 3 While ""A~mii, was putting ""Awf and Khazraj to shame, Ka""b b. al-Ashraf was singing erotic prologues to the Apostle's wives, 4 and composing insulting verses about the Muslim women. 5 lbn lsl)iiq has preserved for us some of Ka. . b's amatory verses which give an idea 1 Ibn Hishiim, p. 995. The English translation is by Anne Carter given in Rodinson's Mohammed, p. 157. 2 Goitein like Rodinson observes that "the women of ancient Arabia were famous not only for their dirges and songs of praise, but in particular for their satirical poems, which largely served the same function as the press of today". (Jews and Arabs, p. 30). 3 Ibn Hishiim, pp. 995-96; Anne Carter's translation in Rodinson's Mohammed, pp. 157-58. 4 Mubammad b. Salliim al-Juma!)i, Tabaqiit al-Slzuc. arii,, ed. Joseph Hell (Leiden, 1916), p. 71. 6 Ibn Hishiim, p. 550. 53