[28] We have met Thâbit before as a poet of renown and a chief of influence, especially among the Beni Khazraj (Ibid. p. 449).
The strength of Khâlid’s column is nowhere mentioned, but, adverting to the great number slain at Yemâma (although he was reinforced meanwhile from Medîna), it could hardly have been less than twelve or fifteen hundred, besides the 1,000 men contributed, as we shall see immediately, by the Beni Tay.
[29] Had there been anything else in Toleiha’s teaching, there is no reason why we should not have heard of it, as Toleiha, when he returned to the faith, became a distinguished champion of Islam. There may, however, have been a disinclination on his part to dwell on this chapter of his life. Al Kindy, the Christian, speaks in his Apology with greater respect of Moseilama’s sayings as calculated to draw off the followers of Mahomet. But I see no evidence of this. See the Apology of Al Kindy, p. 31 (Smith & Elder, 1881).
[30] A name familiar to us in the Life of Mahomet, see p. 323, &c.
[31] The Beni Jadîla and Beni Ghauth.
[32] Abu Bekr means ‘Father of the young camel,’ and they called him by the nickname Ab ul Fasîl, ‘Father of the foal.’ Adî answered, ‘He is not Ab ul Fasîl, but, if you like it, Ab ul Fahl,’ ‘Father of the stallion,’ i.e. endowed with power and vigour.
In the Persian version of Tabari, the surname is by a mistake given as Ab ul Fadhl, ‘the Father of Excellence,’ and is applied to Khâlid.
[33] Okkâsha was a warrior of renown and leader of some expeditions in the time of Mahomet.
[34] The sub-tribe of the Beni Ghatafân to which Oyeina belonged.
[35] Kahânat, the term used for the gift possessed by the heathen soothsayers. The sayings ascribed to Toleiha are childish in the extreme. For example: ‘I command that ye make a millstone with a handle, and the Lord shall cast it on whom he pleaseth;’ and again, ‘By the pigeons and the doves, and the hungry falcons, I swear that our kingdom shall in a few years reach to Irâc and Syria.’