Aḥmad ibn Yaḥyá al-Balādhurī

“ Then it came to pass that those of the people of al-Yaman descended from Saba ibn-Yashjub ibn-Yaʿrub ibn-Ḳaḥṭân were filled with the spirit of oppression and tyranny and ignored the grace of their God in regards to the fertility and luxury he bestowed on them. Consequently, Allah created rats that began to bore the dam, which stood between two mountains and had pipes which the people could open when they wished and get as much water as they wanted. ”

“ This made Jidhʿ say: "Every time ye go to a place, ye al-Azd, some of you detach [58] themselves from the rest. Ye are on the point of becoming the tail among the Arabs." That is why those who settled in Makkah were called Khuzâʿah. [59] Then came Thaʿlabah ibn-ʿAmr Muzaiḳîya with his son and followers to Yathrib whose people were Jews. They settled outside the city where they grew and increased in number and became so strong as to drive the Jews from Yathrib. Thus they came to live inside the city and the Jews outside of it. ”

“ Abu-ʿUbaid al-Ḳâsim ibn-Sallâm from certain learned men:—The Prophet gave out as fief to Bilâl ibn-al-Ḥârith al-Muzani certain mines [48] in the Furuʿ district.
ʿAmr an-Nâḳid and ibn-Sahm al-Anṭâki from abu-ʿIkrimah the freedman of Bilâl ibn-al-Ḥârith al-Muzani:—The Prophet gave out as fief to Bilâl a piece of land having a mountain and mines. The sons of Bilâl sold a part of it to ʿUmar ibn-ʿAbd-al-ʿAzîz in which one mineral (or he may have said two) appeared. The sons of Bilâl thereupon said: "What we sold thee is not the minerals but the tillable land." ”

“ Wâdi-Mahzûr. ʿAbd-al-Aʿla ibn-Ḥammâd an-Narsi from abu-Mâlik ibn-Thaʿlabah's father:—The Prophet decreed in the case of Wâdi-Mahzûr [34] that the water be shut off on the the surface until it rises to the two ankles, at which it should be conducted to the other place, thus preventing the owner of the higher property from holding the water from the owner of the lower one. ”

“ At that time there lived in Yathrib a tribe of Jurhum and a remnant of al-ʿAmâlîḳ who lived on date-planting and wheat-growing. Among these, the Israelites settled and associated with them, and kept increasing in number, as Jurhum and al-ʿAmâlîk were decreasing, until the former drove the latter from Yathrib and established their authority over it, taking possession of their cultivated and pasture lands. ”

“ This al-Walîd wrote to his ʿâmil [lieutenant, governor] in al-Madînah, ʿUmar ibn-ʿAbd-al-ʿAziz, ordering him to destroy the mosque and reconstruct it. Meanwhile, he forwarded to him money, mosaic, marble, and eighty Greek and Coptic artisans from Syria and Egypt. Accordingly, the ʿâmil rebuilt it and added to it, entrusting the supervision of its work and the expenditure for it to Ṣâliḥ ibn-Kaisân, a freedman of Suʿda, a freedmaid of the family of Muʿaiḳîb ibn-abi-Fâṭimah ad-Dausi. ”

“ Therein are men who aspire to purity and Allah loveth the purified. Which of the two is best? He who hath founded his building on the fear of Allah and the desire to please him," etc., referring to the mosque of Ḳubâ’.
Muḥammad ibn-Ḥâtim ibn-Maimûn from al-Ḥasan:—When the text, "Therein are men who aspire to purity" was revealed, the Prophet communicated with those who prayed in the mosque of Ḳubâ’ asking about the meaning of the purity mentioned in connection with their name, and they replied, "We, Prophet of Allah, wash after voiding excrement and urine."
"The mosque founded in piety." ”

“ And would that I some day visit Majannah-water to drink it,
and see Shâmah and Ṭafil [Mts.] !"
ʿÂmir ibn-Fuhairah used to repeat the following :
"I have found death before I tasted it,
verily the death of the coward comes from above. [42]
[Man struggles according to his own ability,]
like the bull that protects his skin with his horn." [43]
This was reported to the Prophet and he prayed: "Make al-Madînah, O Allah, wholesome for us as thou hast made Makkah for us, and bless for us its ṣâʿ and mudd [44] [grain measures] !" ”

“ The Prophet calls al-Madînah Ṭaybah. Muḥammad ibn-Abân al-Wâsiṭi from al-Ḥasan:—The Prophet invoked Allah's blessing on al-Madînah and its inhabitants calling it Ṭaybah. [38]
Abu-ʿUmar Ḥafṣ ibn-ʿUmar ad-Dûri from ʿÂʾishah, the mother of the believers:—When the Prophet emigrated to al-Madînah, a disease spread among the Moslems in it. Among those taken seriously ill were abu-Bakr, Bilâl and ʿÂmir ibn-Fuhairah. During his illness, abu-Bakr often repeated the following verse: [39]
"One in the morning may lie amidst his family
and death may be nearer to him than his sandal's strap." ”

“ There they settled. ʿAmr remarked: "To seek herbage before knowledge is weakness." The tribe of ʿAkk were distressed at the fall of their best lands into the hands of al-Azd and asked the latter to evacuate the land. Thereupon a one-eyed and deaf man of al-Azd, named Jidhʿ, made an attack on a ʿAkk party and destroyed them. This resulted in a war between al-Azd and ʿAkk. ”

“ He kept his way, however, until he arrived at the site of his mosque in al-Madinah where his camel knelt. [13] He dismounted. Then came abu-Aiyûb Khâlid ibn-Zaid ... [14] ibn-al-Khazraj who took off the saddle of the Prophet's camel. The Prophet took up his abode at abu-Aiyûb's. [15] Certain Khazrajis invited the Prophet, but he retorted, "Man is where his camel's saddle is." He remained at abu-Aiyûb's for seven months. He took up his residence there after [Friday-] prayer, one month since his departure [from Makkah] . ”

“ A similar tradition was communicated to me by al-Ḥusain ibn-al-Aswad on the authority of Hishâm's father.
Other fiefs. Al-Ḥusain from ʿUrwah:—Abu-Bakr gave out as fief to az-Zubair the land lying between al-Jurf [46] and Ḳanâh. [47] Abu-l-Ḥasan al-Madâʾini told me that Ḳanâh is a valley stretching from aṭ-Ṭâʾif to al-Arḥaḍîyah and Ḳarḳarat al-Kudr and thence it comes to Sudd-Maʿûnah from which it runs by the end of al-Ḳadûm and ends at the head of Ḳubûr ash-Shuhadâʾ [martyrs' tombs] at Uḥud. ”