THE WICKEDNESS OF THE SCOFFERS, AND THEIR PUNISHMENT.

Some chroniclers have narrated that there were five idolaters who derided his lordship the refuge of the aposto­late —u. w. b.—whenever they found him alone. Their names are as follows: A’ass B. Wâbul Sahmi, Aswad B. Al-Muttalleb, Aswad B. Yaghuth, Wolid B. Moghairah and Hâreth B. Qais Attulattulah. It is said that when one day Jebrâil—u. w. b.—was sitting with his lordship the prophet —u. w. b.—these five individuals walked around them [in derision], but Jebrâil pointed to the foot of A’ass, to the eye of Aswad B. Muttalleb, to the head of Aswad B. Yaghuth, to the leg of Wolid, and to the abdomen of Hâreth, whereon his lordship exclaimed: ‘What hast thou done, O Jebrâil?’ The Faithful Spirit replied that he had done their business. A short time afterwards every one of those men perished in a special manner as follows: A’ass B. Wâbul was one day riding with two of his sons to a field, but when he alighted in a mountain-pass near Mekkah, and placed his foot on the ground, a thorn pierced it, so that he exclaimed: ‘A snake has stung me!’ His sons, however, though they looked around, could see nothing, and when his foot had become swollen to the thickness of a camel’s neck, he shouted: ‘The Lord of Muhammad has killed me!’ till the moment when he hastened to the infernal regions. Aswad B. Muttalleb was sitting in the neighbourhood of Mekkah, in the shade of a tree, when he was suddenly struck with blindness, and Jebrâil, arriving, knocked his iniquitous head against a tree. Aswad called to his aid a slave-boy whom he had with him, but he said: ‘I see no one near him; what is all this distress for?’ Aswad, however, continued shouting: ‘The God of Muham­mad has killed me!’ and in a short time followed A’ass B. Wâbul. Aswad B. Yaghuth, being outside the city of Mekkah, was touched by the wind Simûm, so that the colour of his body became black, and his friends did not recognise him when he returned, but locked the door against him, against which he continued to strike his head until he departed to hell. Hâreth B. Qais had been eating salt fish, and was so overpowered by thirst that water could not quench it. Then he repeated the words ‘The God of Muhammad has killed me!’ and drank so much water that his abdomen burst. Wolid B. Moghairah was one day passing near an archer practising his trade; an arrow happened to adhere to his skirt, which, however, he failed to remove, either from pride or because women were near, in whose presence he was ashamed to lift up his skirt. Accordingly he did not disentangle the dart from his robe, and walked on till it wounded his leg and injured the sciatic artery. His pain compelled him to shout: ‘The Lord of Muhammad has killed me!’ until he departed to hell; and the blessed verse ‘We have punished those who ridiculed thee’ is confirmatory of the just-mentioned events.