[246] Bithynia.
[247] North of Tripoli.
[248] He was the son of Shahryâr and grandson of Kesra. His mother was of the house of Baduria.
[249] Such as Aly, Talha, Zobeir, and Abd al Rahmân.
[250] A play upon the name Sàd, or ‘lion.’ His ordinary patronymic was ibn Abu Wackkâs. (For his early history, see Life of Mahomet, pp. 63, 68.)
When Mahomet got excited in battle, he used a form of adjuration to Sád, which he is said never to have addressed to any other;—‘By the life of my father and mother, shoot, O Sád.’ Sád died A.D. 655, worth 250,000 dirhems.
[251] Tradition puts into Omar’s mouth a set speech; but it has evidently been framed for the occasion. We are also told that in the levies which defiled before Omar were the (future) murderer of Othmân, and also the assassin of Aly; and that Omar was observed to shrink back as they passed—a touch of the proleptic and marvellous, now rare in the matter-of-fact narratives of this period.
[252] Repentant rebel chiefs could thus lead their own tribes, though they could not take a general command, or the command of a column comprising ‘Companions’ in its ranks. Each of these leaders had an allowance of 2,000 dirhems. Amr ibn Mádekerib, who was a great gourmand, said to Omar: ‘A thousand for this side (slapping one side of his stomach), and a thousand for that (slapping the other); but what for this?’ (slapping the middle). Omar laughed, and gave him 500 more, at the same time exclaiming (in admiration of his stalwart frame), ‘Praised be the Lord who hath created such a one as Amr!’
[253] The statements as to the numbers in the different columns vary. After the battle of the Bridge, most of the recruits from Medîna (Omar’s first levy) had fled, and left Mothanna alone with the Bedouin contingents, mainly from the Bekr and Rabia tribes, belonging to the N.E. of Arabia. He was then reinforced, by Omar’s command, with new levies from the northern tribes of the Beni Tay, Codhâa, Bajîla, &c.; and could thus show, at the battle of Boweib, a rank and file of some 8,000 men. Then Sád brought 8,000 more, and fresh contingents kept trooping up from Yemen and the south; so that, with the Syrian levies, which arrived during the battle of Câdesîya, he had in all 30,000 men.
[254] The Beni Rabia and Modhar, i.e. clans of northern lineage.