Abu Sufyan ibn Harb

“ I have everything to fear from them, because there is no longer any member of my family in Makkah. But I can show you a man whose influence will be much more efficacious than mine. I mean Usman ibn Affan.'
Mohammad, recognising this to be sound advice, despatched Usman to Abu Sufyan and the noblemen of the city, to assure them that he was actuated by pacific sentiments, and to inform them of his wish to do honour to the "House of Allah" by a pilgrimage. When the Prophet's envoy had finished explaining the object of his mission to the men of Makkah, they replied: 'O Usman! ”

“ He therefore said: 'O ye Anṣâr, ye have said so and so ...' 'We have, Prophet of Allah,' replied the Anṣâr. 'Nay,' said the Prophet, 'I am the slave of Allah and his Prophet. I have immigrated to Allah and to you. 'My life is your life; my death is your death!' Hearing this, the Anṣâr began to weep saying, 'By Allah, we said what we said only in our anxiety to spare the Prophet of Allah.' The people then crowded to the house of abu-Sufyân and closed its doors laying down their arms. The Prophet proceeded to the 'stone' and laid hold of it. ”

“ It was that of Abu Sufyan. 'O father of Handala!' I called to him.—'O father of Al-Fadl! if 'tis thee, what dost thou want of me?' he returned, having also recognised my voice.—'O Abu Sufyan! the Prophet is here at the head of such a great army that all resistance is impossible. To-morrow the Quraish will be cut to pieces!'—'What is to be done! Canst thou advise me?'—'If thou art taken prisoner during the fight, thy head will be cut off. ”

“ When he [abu-Sufyân] got to Marr aẓ-Ẓahrân and saw the fires and the tents he said, "What is the matter with the people? They seem like the people celebrating the night of ʿArafah." Saying this, he was surrounded by the Prophet's horsemen, who took him prisoner; and he was brought before the Prophet. ʿUmar came and wanted to execute him, but al-ʿAbbâs prevented him and he [abu-Sufyân] embraced Islâm and presented himself before the Prophet. When the time for morning prayer came, the Moslems bestirred themselves for ablution before prayer. "What is the matter?" ”

“ Renew therefore the alliance and reconcile the parties." Abu-Sufyân then clapped his right hand against the left saying, "I have renewed the alliance and reconciled the parties."
He then left and came to Makkah. The Prophet had said, "Abu-Sufyân is coming. He returns satisfied without having effected any result." When he returned to the people of Makkah he told them what had happened and they said, "By Allah we know none more foolish than thou. Thou dost bring us neither war that we may be warned, nor peace that we may feel safe." ”

“ According to Mâlik ibn-Anas and ibn-abi-Dhiʾb, there is no harm in cutting the branches of the thumâm plant and the ends of the senna plant from the Ḥaram to be used as medicine or tooth-picks.
According to Sufyân ibn-Saʿîd, abu-Ḥanîfah, and abu-Yûsuf, whatever in the Ḥaram is grown by man or was grown by him can be cut with impunity; whatever is grown without the agency of man, its cutter should be responsible for its value. ”

“ Khuzâʿah then came to the Prophet and complained of what had befallen them. The Prophet said, "I was ordered to secure one of the two towns Makkah or aṭ-Ṭâʾif." Thereupon, the Prophet ordered that the march be commenced. Thus he set out with the Companions saying, "O Allah, strike upon their ears [with deafness] that they may not hear, [5] so that we may take them by surprise!" The Prophet pressed the march until he camped at Marr aẓ-Ẓahrân. Ḳuraish had asked abu-Sufyân to return. ”

“ Jami, one of the greatest Persian authorities on Sufism, tells us that the name "Sufi" was first applied to Abu Hashim (d. 162) , an Arab of Kufa who spent the greater part of his life in Syria, and is typical of the early Islamic devotee who followed the simplicity of the Prophet's life and was deeply influenced by the Qur'anic teaching about sin, judgment, and the brief passage of earthly life. Similar devotees, claimed as Sufis by later Sufi writers, but more properly devotees who were their precursors, appear in the course of the 2nd century, such as Ibrahim b. ”

“ In the fertile plains, north of Al-Madinah, the fellahs were peacefully engaged in their work of agriculture, or watching over their grazing flocks, when all of a sudden, the soldiers of Abu Sufyan, who had taken the greatest precautions to hide their rapid advance, debouched from the ravines of the western mountains. All resistance being impossible, the ill-fated peasants fled in great haste to escape being massacred, and to warn their fellow-citizens of the invasion of Allah's enemies. ”

“ Just at this moment Abu Sufyan, who, puffed with pride, had remained to taunt his discomfited foes, called out, “Mohammed! Abu Bekr! Omar!” and, hearing no response, shouted, “Then all are slain, and ye are rid of them!” This was too much for Omar to endure with equanimity; and so, disobeying the Prophet, he bellowed: “Thou liest! They are all alive, thou enemy of God, and will requite thee yet.” Hearing this, Abu [p. 144] Sufyan twitted Omar with these words: “Then this day shall be a return for Bedr. Fortune alternates as the bucket. Hearken! ye will find mutilated ones upon the field ”

“ Mohammed appealed to the men of Medina, 'Here is a caravan of the Koreish in which they have embarked much wealth. Come! {80} perchance the Lord will enrich you with the same.' The appeal was not in vain. With an army of 305 men and 70 camels he marched to meet it at Badr, still a halting-place on the pilgrim road from Syria to Mecca. Meanwhile, through spies or traitors, the news reached Abu Sufyan, who sent to Mecca for help. The men of Mecca, not without misgivings at making war upon their relatives, turned out for battle nearly a thousand strong. ”

“ Then, closely escorted by Al-Abbas, Abu went forth, pausing a moment, as his amazed eyes swept the innumerable warriors around him, to remark, “Truly this kingdom of thy nephew’s is a mighty kingdom.” “Nay, Abu Sufyan!” chided Al-Abbas, “he is more than a king—he is a mighty Prophet!” “Yes, thou sayest truly; now let me go,” replied Abu as he edged away. Arriving home, he promptly repeated the Prophet’s message; and never before, in all her long and distinguished history, had Mecca witnessed such a scurrying of feet and banging—or draping—of doors as followed. ”

“ He learned that the Sufis were on the true and only path to the knowledge of God; that neither intelligence nor wisdom nor science could change or improve their doctrine or their ethics. The light in which they walk is essentially the same as the light of prophecy; Muhammad was a Sufi when on his way to be a prophet. There is none other light to light any man in this world. A complete purifying of the heart from all but God is their Path; a seeking to plunge the heart completely in the thought of God, is its beginning, and its end is complete passing away in God. ”

“ But, in fact, there are no unanimous and apparently independent traditions of the command of Mohammad to assassinate Abú Sofian; there is only one and but one, by Ibn Sád, which is wholly unreliable, and that too from the lips of the would-be assassin himself who before the introduction of Islam was a professional cutthroat, whose narration, therefore, deserves not our belief. ”

“ Scarcely had the last camel disappeared when the Prophet, after thanking Allah for his timely assistance in sending the storm, was visited by Gabriel. “What!” chided the tireless angel, “hast thou laid aside thine armor, while as yet the angels have not laid theirs aside! Arise! go up against the Beni Koreiza.” This Jewish tribe, which inhabited a fortress several miles southeast of Medina, had been the last to succumb to the blandishments of Abu Sufyan, but had finally yielded and taken part in the assault on Medina ”

“ He then drew near to a spot within hail of the Faithful, entrenched on the slopes of the Uhud, and called out to them: 'Is Mohammad with you?' There being no answer, he joyfully concluded that the Prophet was dead. Before going away, he bawled as loudly as he could: 'Assuredly, war is a game of chance. This day avengeth the day of Badr; Hubal, our god, is victorious. He is the All-Highest!'
At this blasphemy, the Prophet ordered Umar to reply. He cried out: 'Allah is the Most High; the Most Majestic!' Recognising Umar's voice, Abu Sufyan asked him: 'O Umar! ”

“ And so, while the destruction of the helpless icons was enthusiastically carried out in every Meccan home—while Abu Sufyan’s wife, Hind, smashed her favorite god as energetically as she had once ripped Hamza’s vitals out, and further insulted the deity by the charge that it had vilely cheated her all her life—Mohammed, fatigued and dusty, retired to a corner of his tent and, as his daughter, Fatima, shielded him with a screen, gave himself a thorough bath. ”

“ It was said of Sufyan, [FN#285] 'Can a man be a religious and yet possess wealth?' He replied, 'Yes, so he be patient when grieved and be thankful when he hath received.' Abdullah bin Shaddád, being about to die, sent for his son Mohammed and admonished him, saying, 'O my son, I see the Summoner of Death summoning me, and so I charge thee to fear Allah both in public and private, to praise Allah and to be soothfastin thy speech, for such praise bringeth increase of prosperity, and piety in itself is the best of provision for the next world ”

“ In Spain itself the leading Sufi was 'Abdu l-Haqq ibn Sab'in (d. 667) , who shows the more characteristic Spanish attitude of a Sufi who was also a philosopher, for Spanish Sufism was essentially speculative. Like many other philosophers of the Muwahhid period he adhered outwardly to the Zahirites, the most reactionary party of the narrowest orthodoxy.
In the 7th century, also, we have Jalalu d-Din Rumi (d. 672) , who practically completes the golden age of Sufism. Although a Persian he was an orthodox Sunni. ”

“ He ran and told his father, who laughed, saying, ‘It is mere spite, for we are a deal better than the Romans.’ This is a manifest anti-Omeyyad tale, for tradition is almost unanimous that Abu Sofiân, notwithstanding his age, distinguished himself that day by his valour and his ardour in stirring up the troops (Ibn Khaldûn, p. 85) ; and indeed it would have been altogether against his interest to have done otherwise.
[173] The disaster, making every allowance for exaggeration, must have been appalling. ”

“ In the latter part of the 3rd cent. we begin to find evidences of a "new Sufism," which was inspired by religious ideals other than those which had been dominant in early Islam, and which developed from those ideals a theology of its own, which for a long time was not admitted as orthodox. Asceticism still occurs, but whilst, on the one hand, it begins to take a more definite character in the deliberate seeking of poverty and mortification, it is, on the other hand, relegated to a subordinate place as a merely preparatory stage in the Sufi life, which is technically described as a "journey." ”

“ As for ibn-Sibâʿ jail, it was a house for ʿAbdallâh ibn-Sibâʿ ibn-ʿAbd-al-ʿUzza ibn-Naḍlah ibn-ʿAmr ibn-Ghubshân al-Khuzâʿi. Sibâʿ was surnamed abu-Niyâr and his mother was a midwife in Makkah. In the battle of Uḥud, he was challenged by Ḥamzah ibn-ʿAbd-al-Muṭṭalib who cried, 'Come, thou son of the female circumciser!' [11] and killed him. As Ḥamzah stooped on his victim to take his armor, he was thrust with a spear by Waḥshi. The mother of the poet Ṭuraiḥ ibn-Ismâʿil ath-Thaḳafi was the daughter of ʿAbdallâh ibn-Sibâʿ, an ally of the banu-Zuhrah. ”

“ And Ibn al Mukaffa replied: "Dumbness becomes you; why should you repent of it?"
These gibes rankled in Sofyan's mind, and ere long he had an opportunity of glutting his vengeance on Ibn al Mukaffa.
Abdallah, the uncle of Al Mansur, had revolted against his nephew, and aspired to the Caliphate; but being defeated by Abu Muslim, who had been sent against him at the head of an army, he took to flight, and dreading the vengeance of Al Mansur, lay concealed at the house of his brothers, Sulaiman and Isa. These two then interceded for him with the Caliph, who consented to forgive what had passed ”

“ They occupy in the East much the same position that Madame Guyon and the Jansenists occupied in the West, and they teach the same doctrine of quietism, which, while it lends to its followers the virtues of exaggerated submission, saps the root of a faith that is manifested in works. So far as the Sufis are striving earnestly after union with God, they are saved from the logical consequences of their doctrines: “Their ear is strained to catch the sounds of the lute, their eyes are fixed upon the cup, their bosoms are filled with the desire of this world and of the world to come.” ”

“ But in reality this is only the beginning of the Sufi life, the end of Sufism being total absorption in God. The intuitions and all that precede are, so to speak, only the threshold for those who enter. From the beginning, revelations take place in so flagrant a shape that the Sufis see before them, whilst wide awake, the angels and the souls of the prophets. They hear their voices and obtain their favors. Then the transport rises from the perception of forms and figures to a degree which escapes all expression, and which no man may seek to give an account of without his words involving sin. ”