IMAM ABU AL-FIDA' ISMA'IL IBN KATHiR 31Al-Waqidi stated, "The man who wrote down the agreement was Talha b.
Aba Talha al-'Abdari." My own view is that it is well established that the man
was Mansar b. (Ikrima, as Ibn Ishaq related. It was he who lost the use of a hand;
Quraysh used to say among themselves, "Look what happened to Manstir b.
(Ikrima!"
Al-Waqidi said, "And the document was suspended in the middle of the
ka'ba."Ibn Ishaq stated, "When Quraysh had done this the Bann Hashim and the Bana
al-Mu~alih allied with Aba Tdib and entered his enclave and joined forces with
him.
"But Aha Lahab h. 'Abd al-Wzza b. 'Abd al-Mutralib left the Bauo Hashim
and gave his support to Quraysh.
"Husayn h. 'Abd Allah related to me that Aba Lahab met Hind, daughter of
Wtba b. Rabi'a when he parted with his own people and gave his support to
Quraysh against them. He asked her, '0 daughter of Wtba, have I not given my
support to al-Lat and al-'Uzza and broken with those who have abandoned them
and given their support against them?'
"'Yes, indeed,' she replied. 'And may God reward you well, 0 Aba 'Utba!"'
Ibn Ishaq continued, "I was told that one of the things he would say was,
'Muhammad promises me things I do not see that he claims to exist after death.
What apart from that had he put in my hands?'
"He then blew into his hands and addressed them thus: 'May you both
perish! I see nothing in you of what Muhammad talks!'
"And so God Almighty sent down His words: LMay the hands of Abii Lahab
perish, and may he perish too!'" (sarat al-Lahab; CVI, v.1).
Ibn Ishaq went on, "When Quraysh had agreed in this way and acted towards
him as they did, Abo Talib spoke the following verses:
'0 do announce our disagreement to the Lu'ayy, to those Lu'ayy of the Bana Ka'b:
Do you not know that we have found Muhammad to be a prophet like Moses of
whom it is written in the very first hooks?
And that among men there is love for him and that none is better than those
endowed by God with love,
And that the document you have put up is an evil thing, like the raging young
camel?
Wake up, wake up before the moist earth is dug (for your graves) and those without
sin will be just like sinners.
Do not follow the orders of those who lie, and so cut your ties with us after friend-
ship and kinship,
Drawing on an endless warfare; and the milk of war can turn very hitter to those
who taste it.- Apparently a reference to the camel of Salih which was killed by his people, Thamnd, con-
trary to his express wish. See snrat nl-Shu'ard'; XXVI, v.155-8.