THE KILLING OF O’BEYDULLAH B. O’MAR B. ALKHATTÂB.

It is related that one day O’beydullah B. O’mar, who was of the number of champions, marched out, with a detach­ment of valiant cavalry anxious to fight, for the purpose of attacking the warriors of E’râq, who were celebrated everywhere. Mâlek Ashtar, whose great boldness and valour stand in no need of description, encountered the opponents with a company more fond of battle than of a voluptuous assembly, and, a conflict having ensued, O’bey­dullah attacked Mâlek, who desired to cut his life short with the sabre, but the Eternal Will not assenting, O’bey­dullah escaped that day alive from the battle, so that the intention of Mâlek was foiled. Such being the case, he ordered line-breaking Rûmis to make an attack, and both parties contended so long with each other that even the bloodshedding and cruel planet Mars took pity on them. Mâlek having become the victor, some of the forces returned joyfully and some with sorrow to their [respective] camps. The next morning, when the sovereign of the day had drawn his sword and routed the hosts of the night, Dhu-l-kalâgh the Hemyarite attacked, with four thousand warriors skilled in wielding the sword and the lance—who had made a covenant not to flee from the battle-ground—the Bani Rebya’h, who had gathered under the victory-boding standards of A’bdullah B. A’bbâs. The Bani Rebya’h, who were likewise prepared to sacrifice their lives, advanced boldly, and both parties using sabres and poniards, injured each other to such an extent that many of them departed to paradise and many to hell. During this contest O’bey­dullah B. O’mar shouted to his followers who were fighting bravely: ‘I am good, and the son of a good man!’ When A’mmâr B. Yâser heard these words of O’beydullah, he exclaimed: ‘Nay, thou art of a wicked nature.’ O’bey­dullah thereon chanted rajaz verses, drew forth the sword of vengeance from the scabbard, and killed Shamar B. Ryân, who was one of the knights of the Rebya’h tribe.

When the world-illuminating sun deflected to the western regions, both parties restrained their hands from hostilities, and struck the drum of repose. When the next day the Shâh of the luminaries had with his gory robe stepped over the bridge of the horizon, O’beydullah B. O’mar B. Alkhat­tâb, with his bosom full of grief for his old friends, issued orders for an attack, and advanced in front of his party with a naked sword. On the part of the victory-allied forces the Rebya’h tribe encountered the antagonists, and a man having with his lance pierced a lethal spot on the body of O’beydullah, he fell from his horse and surrendered his life to the owner of hell, whereon the man who had slain him returned to the victorious army. The people of Hamdan alleged that Hâny had killed O’beydullah, while those of Hadzramont said it was Mâlek B. A’mru, and the Rebya’h asserted that Jâber Hanafy had slain him. In his chronicle, Abu Hanifah Dinwari states that the last-mentioned assertion is the true one; Allah the Most High knows, however, best [the true state of the case].