IMAM ABU AL-FIDA' ISMA'IL IBN KATHIR^59Ibn Hisham said, "In the days when Wmar b. d-KhaytZb ruled, Umm
Ghaylan came to him, believing that Dir* was his brother. 'Umar told her, 'I am
only his brother in Islam. I know of your favour to him. He gave her a gift as
though she were a traveller."'
He went on, ''Dira b. al-Khatpb met up with Wmar b. al-Khay~b at the
battle of Uhud, and began striking him with the flat of his spear, saying, 'Save
yourself, Ibn d-Khattab, I shall not kill you! ' 'Umar thus acknowledged this act
of his after Islam. God bless them both.DIVISION
Al-Bayhaqi related at this point the imprecation of the Prophet (SAAS) against
Quraysh when they withheld from him, resulting in seven years similar to the
seven in Joseph's case.
His account tallies with those in the jahih collections narrated through
al-A'mash, from Muslim b. Subayh, from Masriiq, from Ibn Mus'iid. He (the
Prophet (SAAS)) said, "Five things have come to pass; al-lzzdm, the punish-
ment, the Romans, the 'smoke,' the conflict, and the moon."
There is an account from Ibn Mus'iid saying, "When Quraysh rejected the
Messenger of God (SAAS), and refrained from accepting Islam, he (the Prophet
(SAAS)) said, '0 God, bring down upon Quraysb for me the seven years like
those for Joseph!'"
The account went on, "And they were aftlicted for a year until everything
was completely ruined. They were reduced to eating carrion, and some, out of
hunger, hallucinated so that they would imagine seeing smoke all the way to
the heavens. Then he prayed, and God gave them relief. 'Abd Allah (b.
Musciid) thereafter recited the following verse, 'We are withdrawing from you
the punishment for a while; but you will revert' (swat al-Dukhan; XLIV,
v.15). They did revert and disbelieved, and so were put off till Judgement
Day. Or he said, 'and they were put off till the battle of Badr.' 'Abd Allah said,
'If the reference were really to Judgement Day, he would not have exposed
them to the words, '... the day when we confront them with the great conflict.
We will take revenge!' (swat al-Dukhdn; XLIV, v.16). He said, 'At the battle
of Badr.'
In (another) account from him, he said, "When the Messenger of God
(SAAS) saw the people backing away, he said, '0 God, (inflict) seven years (of
calamity) like those of Joseph.' And so they suffered a year so bad that they ate
carrion, leather and bones. Abii Sufyan and other Meccans came to him and said,
'0 Muhammad, you claim to have been given your mission of mercy. Here your
people are perishing. Pray to God for them.'
"And so the Messenger of God (SAAS) did say a prayer and profuse rain
descended on them. It poured down on them for seven days and people
complained about the volume of rain. And so he said the words, '0 God, around