As to the tenor of tradition, there are two distinct versions of the tragedy, one giving as its cause the misconception of Khâlid’s order, the other Mâlik’s own disloyal speech. This last, taken separately, is inconsistent with the admitted fact that Khâlid justified himself before Abu Bekr by the former. In the text I have endeavoured to combine the two narratives.
Mâlik had flowing locks, and (so runs the tradition) when the skulls of the prisoners were cast into the fire under the cooking-pots, his alone would not burn because of the mass of hair. The story (true or false) shows the spirit of savagery rapidly fanned by religious war.
I should perhaps mention that, though tradition is proud of Khâlid’s heroism, he is not a special favourite with Abbasside historians, as his son was afterwards a staunch supporter of the Omeyyads.
[48] I.e. Shawwâl, or two months before the close of A.H. XI. As already explained, the dates are arbitrarily assumed. The Kâtib Wâckidi places the battle of Yemâma in A.H. XII. (which begins March 18, A.D. 633), and even the engagement of Bozâkha in the same year; but this would throw the campaign in Irâc altogether too late. The cold which led Khâlid to order his prisoners to be ‘wrapped,’ must have been on the approach of winter, and corresponds with the chronology which I have been obliged to assume on grounds admittedly vague.
[49] See Life of Mahomet, ch. xxxii. Moseilama is a diminutive form of the adjective Moslem, and is supposed by some to be in that sense a derisive epithet. He is described as of a contemptible presence, a dark yellow complexion and a pug nose.
[50] Some say that he was deputed by Abu Bekr. He could recite the whole of Sura Becr (s. ii.). Khâlid had not heard of his defection, and looked for him to come out and join his army.
[51] The tales told of him are silly. He was desired to pray, as Mahomet had done, for rain, but it only intensified the drought; when he prayed for a blessing on young children, it made them stammer, become bald, &c. He established a sanctuary, perhaps in imitation of the Kâaba, but it became a mere rendezvous for bandits. See also the ascetic doctrines ascribed to him, and the opinion of Al Kindy, the Apologist, supra, pp. 23 & 32.
[52] Above, p. 18. Ikrima was the son of Abu Jahl, the arch-enemy, cursed in the Corân by Mahomet, and himself an inveterate opponent, until the taking of Mecca (Life of Mahomet, ch. xxiv.). So completely was it all forgotten now under the new dispensation of equality and brotherhood, that he had one of the chief commands given him.
[53] If Ikrima and Shorahbîl were despatched from Dzul Cassa at the general marshalling when Khâlid marched against Toleiha, then Shorahbîl must have had long to wait. But it is probable (as we have seen) that the popular tradition of the simultaneous despatch of all the columns is a fiction, and that Khâlid’s expedition preceded some of the others by a considerable interval.
After finishing the Yemâma campaign, Shorahbîl’s original orders were to join Amru in his proceedings against the Beni Codhâa in the north.