[72] No dates are given. But as the battle which follows was retrieved by reinforcements from the Beni Abd al Cays, and as that tribe was only set free by the success of Alâ, the operations in Omân must necessarily have been later than those in Bahrein.
[73] See Life of Mahomet, ch. xxx.
[74] They belonged to the great families of Azd and Himyar, who inhabited that part of the Peninsula, and had therefore both experience and local influence.
[75] Sohâr, still a mercantile port, lies above 100 miles west of Maskat. The bazaar of Dabâ was probably near to it.
[76] Attâb had been governor ever since Mahomet appointed him on the capture of Mecca. The rebels were headed by Jondob of the Mudlij tribe. Penitential verses, recited by this rebel chief on his submission, have been preserved (Tabari, i. p. 212). In the paucity of trustworthy tradition at this period, such verses are peculiarly valuable, amplifying as they do the meagre materials at our command, and giving fixed and certain points.
[77] According to another account of this affair, Khâlid (who had been appointed by Mahomet collector of tithes and resident with the Beni Zobeid in the quarter south of Mecca), attacked Amr ibn Mádekerib, and having taken his sister prisoner, obtained the sword as her ransom. The sword came several years afterwards into the possession of the Governor of Kûfa, who offered to give it back to Amr; to show its marvellous temper, Amr took it, and at one blow severed the pack on his mule’s back in two. Then he returned it to the governor, saying that he could not retain a sword of which he had once been despoiled. Among other poetry is some by Amr himself:—‘The sword of the son of Dzu Cayfar (A.D. 475) was mine; its blade was tempered in the age of Ad. It hath a grooved blade which cleaveth helmets, and the bodies of men, in twain.’ See Caussin de Perceval, vol. i. p. 117; also Mr. C. J. Lyall’s translations from the Hamasah. Journal As. Soc. of Bengal, 1877, vol. xlvi. pp. 179, et seq. It is curious to remark how many Arab warriors were also poets of renown.
[78] The tradition was preserved in the name of ‘the Villains’ (Akhabîth) road, by which this part of the coast was long known.
[79] Life of Mahomet, chap. xxxii.
[80] Yemen was, for a considerable period in the seventh century, governed by a Satrap as a dependency of Persia; and large numbers of Persians then settled in the country. These were their descendants, and also the Ebnâa of mixed parentage. (Life of Mahomet, vol. i., p. cxliv.)
[81] Dzul Kelâa and other semi-independent Himyar chiefs occupying the neighbouring districts. Some of these remained loyal, and distinguished themselves greatly in the Syrian campaigns.