[398] Otba came on a pilgrimage to Mecca, and there besought Omar to allow him to resign his government. Omar refused, and as Otba died on his way back, the Caliph was much distressed. He visited his tomb to pray over it, and said that he would have reproached himself as the cause of his death—‘had it not been already written in the decrees of the Lord.’
[399] We have met Moghîra in the lifetime of the Prophet. First at Hodeibia, where the murder was cast in his teeth by his uncle, and subsequently at the demolition of the great idol of Tâyif, &c. (Life of Mahomet, pp. 370, 467.) He was red-haired, one-eyed, obese and repulsive in appearance, but insinuating in manner and speech. One of his eighty concubines, when his ill looks were mentioned, said, ‘Yes, he is a sweet conserve but on a beggarly dish.’
The aged princess whom he demanded in marriage on the fall of Hîra, was Hind, daughter of Nómân V. Some threescore years before she had been married to Adi, who, when tutor to her father, had caught a glimpse of her in the church at Hîra. Adi was executed for some offence by the Chosroes, and Hind then retired into a convent near Hîra, called, after her, Dâira Hind. See the strange story of Moghîra’s coarse conduct towards her as related by M. Caussin de Perceval, vol. ii. p. 150; and Life of Mahomet (1st edition), vol. i. pp. clxxix. et seq.
For the law of evidence on the charge of adultery, see Life of Mahomet, p. 313. The whole story is significant as manifesting the deterioration of Arab life from the ancient spirit and customs, which, amongst the Bedouins, admitted of social intercourse between the sexes without such scandals. The lady’s name was Omm Jamîl, of the Beni Aámir ibn Sassâá, and is said by Tabari to have been a widow. ‘This lady used openly to visit Moghîra and other chief men of Bussora, a custom common amongst some of the ladies of that time.’ But the old Arab chivalry towards the sex was rapidly disappearing under the system which raised the slave-girl giving issue to her lord to the position of Omm Walad, or freed-wife, and her children to the same legitimacy as the children of the noble-born. This, coupled with the laxity of divorce and re-marriage, was speedily lowering the position of the sex, and rendered the strict use of ‘the Veil’ an absolute necessity for the decent observances of social life; and gradually, but surely, bringing about the wretched condition of women, together with the seclusion of the harem, as we now find it in Moslem lands.
[400] In the action of Autâs following the field of Honein, his uncle, who commanded, was slain; and Abu Mûsa took up the banner and routed the enemy. He had more physical than moral courage, as we shall see at the great Arbitration.
[401] It is not said that he punished the calumniator. What was the fault of the girl which led to her imprisonment is not clear. Possibly there was some scandal of undue influence over Abu Mûsa, to whom some say she was given as a bribe by his predecessor Moghîra. As regards the gift to the poet, Weil remarks that for a smaller offence of the same kind, Khâlid was deposed with ignominy—which is true. This is the same Ziâd of whom we have heard before, as the putative son of Abu Sofiân, destined hereafter to assume a prominent position.
[402] Above, p. 166.
[403] See Life of Mahomet, p. 72. He was one of the friendless converts whose freedom Abu Bekr purchased, and thus saved him from the persecution of the Coreish.
[404] The manner in which Moghîra got hold of the secret is characteristic of his artfulness. He perceived Jobeir in close conference with the Caliph. Now Omar had apprised Jobeir of his intention to appoint him Governor of Kûfa; but bade him, for the present, to keep the matter secret. Moghîra, suspecting the truth, sent one of his wives with a present of viands to Jobeir’s wife, who, caught in the trap, accepted the congratulatory gift. Moghîra, thus assured that his suspicions were well founded, hurried off to Omar, and representing that he had got hold of a weak fellow, who could not even keep the secret of his nomination for a day, got the appointment (as in the text) for himself. Some say that Omar afterwards intended to reappoint Sád (who seems to have been removed on very inadequate grounds) to Kûfa, but that he died before he could give effect to the intention.
[405] Sura xxviii. 4.