IMAM ABO AL-FIDA' ISMA'TL IBN KATHXR^125Ibn Ishaq commented, "He greatly liked Quraysh. He was a son-in-law of
theirs, his wife being Amab, daughter of Asad b. 'Ahd al-Wzza b. Quvayy. He
had spent some years living among Quraysh with his wife.
"He spoke an ode in which he extolled sacrosanctity and advised Quraysh
against war. In it he referred to their good qualities and their aspirations and
reminded them of how God had tested them and how He had repelled from
them those of the elephant and all their strategies. He also told them to leave the
Messenger of God (SAAS) alone. In these verses, he said,
'0 rider, if you do not object, then carry this message
from me to the tribe of Lu'ayy h. Ghdib.
The messenger of a man upset by your enmity, sad at the
distance between you, tired of it,
I had a place to stop at for my troubles, yet I did not
by it fulfil my needs and wishes.
Your abode, however, has two factions, each onc clamouring
noisily, like the sound made by kindling and wond burning,
I bid you take refuge with God from your evil deeds, from
the evil of your desires and from the scorpion's sting,
From the display of bad morals, from evil plottings like
the prick of an awl, having great impact,
And remind them firstly of God and at the sanctioning of
things forbidden, hke wombs of young maidens.
And tell them, "And God will make His judgement; abandon
warfare and let it depart from you."
When you incite it, you arouse something blameworthy; it
is an evil spirit for those related to you or not.
It severs family ties, can destroy a nation, use up the
fat from a camel's hump and withers.
For it fine, thin clothes are exchanged for coats of
chainmail and the rust-spotted garb of the warrior,
While musk and camphor are exchanged for clouds of dust,
the chain-links looking like locusts' eyes.
Beware lest war attach itself to you, for it is a pool
whose water is unhealthy and hitter to drink.
It seems attractive to nations, then they see its
consequences reveal it as an ugly old woman.
It hums up rather than cooks those who are weak, and
diverts your nobles to certain death.
Do you not know how it was in the war of D*is; give
thought; and to the war of H~ub too.
How many great leaders were then struck down, fine,
up-standing men whose guests were never disappointed,
Great men, like fine charcoals, men to be revered, men of
pure character, of exemplary nobility,
Like water spread out in a waste-land as though poured
there by the winds of East or South,