indeed how can I reproach thee for thy invectives against my father, when of a truth he lashed thee with eighty lashes for drinking wine? And by command of my maternal grandfather he killed thy father who had been taken and bound, and my maternal grandfather killed him by command of my Lord God? And when thy father stood before the executioner, he said, 'Be gracious unto my young sons after me, O Muhammad!' But my maternal grandfather replied, 'Hell-fire is their portion.' For with him there could be no place for them excepting hell-fire, and with my father there could be nothing for them excepting the lash and the sword.—And as for thee, O ʾUtbah! how canst thou reproach any one for murder? For why didst thou slay him whom thou didst discover with thy wife, though taking her back again after that she had sinned?—And as for thee, O thou one-eyed Thakîfy![1] for what reason dost thou
- ↑ Mughîrah is generally believed to have lost one of his eyes at the battle of Yermûk, though some historians say that the loss was occasioned by watching an eclipse. At the battle of Yermûk, fought A.H. 15 (A.D. 636), between the army of the Emperor Heraclius and the Muslims, (see Note ‡, p. 28,) the Christian archers are said to have done such execution that seven hundred of the Arabs lost either one or both of their eyes.
