KHÂLED B. ALWOLYD DEPARTS FROM SYRIA TO MADINAH.

On this subject a number of traditions have been com­mingled, the gist of which is that, when by the efforts and activity of Khâled B. Alwolyd the adherents of Islâm had wrested a portion of Syria from the grasp of the Byzantines, the news spread all over Arabia, whereon a famous poet wrote a Qassidah on the subject, and performing the long journey, recited it to Khâled, who, discerning the elegance of the composition and appreciating its beautiful versifica­tion, presented him with the sum of ten thousand dirhems. Some persons, imbued with envy, of which despicable feel­ing perhaps death alone could divest them, reported this act to O’mar, telling him that Khâled, having put his hands into the public treasury of the Musalmâns, some­times presents ten thousand dirhems to a poet, sometimes a hundred thousand, and also provides a woman with a dowry. Considering what had been reported to him, O’mar thought also of the destruction of Mâlek B. Nuyrah, and the marriage of the daughter of Mojaa’h,* whereon he despatched the following order to Abu O’baydah: ‘Khâled B. Alwolyd, having thought it licit to spend the property of the adherents of Islâm, and to squander what belongs to them, is to be deprived by thee of one-half of his property, and to be forthwith sent to Madinah.’ When the command (to which obedience is due) of his lordship the refuge of the Khalifate had reached Abu O’baydah, he acted up to it with such strictness that he left one sandal to Khâled and confiscated the other, Khâled himself consenting with great pleasure and the utmost readiness to surrender one-half of everything he possessed, saying: ‘I am not one of those who, following the inspirations of their own nature, would resist the Amir of the Faithful.’ After Abu O’baydah had incorporated into the public treasury one-half of the property of Khâled, the latter departed to Madinah, and having arrived in that honoured locality, was made happy by attaining the honour of waiting upon O’mar, who, nevertheless, issued orders to deprive him of one-half of his remaining property, whereon forty thousand dirhems more were taken from him and disbursed into the public treasury of the Musalmâns. During the fifth year of the Khalifate of O’mar, Khâled was overtaken by a lethal disease, and said in the agony of it: ‘I have during a number of years been fighting and striving for the religion, and expected to be honoured by attaining the dignity of martyrdom, but could not enjoy that happiness despite the numerous wounds and blows I have received.’ He then exclaimed: ‘I am now astonished and sorrowful because I must leave the world and meet death in this manner.’ In that malady he indited the following as his last will: ‘My arms, horse and my slave are to be used in war, because I love nothing more than to exalt the word of Allah.’ When the property he possessed was ascertained after he had died, nothing more could be found except the just-mentioned horse and arms. This having been reported to O’mar, he said: ‘May God the Most High and Glorious have mercy on the father of Suleimân, for we imagined his circumstances to be different from those which have been now revealed.’ When the bier of Khâled was taken up, his sister Fattimah, the daughter of Wolyd Moghyrah, wept bitterly and aloud for her dear brother; and although the lamentations of unhappy persons were distasteful to O’mar, many deplored the death of Khâled, whereon he said: ‘There is no harm in the relatives of Moghyrah shedding tears for Khâled, pro­vided they do not rend their clothes, do not wail aloud, and do not strike their cheeks; because no one was more ready to obey those in command than himself.’ It is said that one day O’mar saw the mother of Khâled singing laudatory verses about her son, and weeping bitterly. He asked: ‘Who is she, and why is she crying?’ Being told that this was the mother of Khâled B. Alwolyd weeping for the loss of her son, he said: ‘I have seen no woman who had given birth to a man like Khâled; but a blessing is ignored when at hand, though appreciated when lost.’