The honorable and disgraceful events of the Arabs

‘Fuzyl Al-Barjumy narrated to me saying, ‘I was at Mecca and Khalid Bin Abdull Ameer was the governor, and he was in Al-Masjid near Zamzam. He said, ‘Call Qatada for me’. An old man with a red beard came up, and I went near them to listen. Khalid said, ‘O Qatada, inform me of the most prestigious event that has transpired among the Arabs, and the most honourable event that has transpired among the Arabs, and the most disgraceful event that has transpired among the Arabs’. So he said, ‘May Allah (azwj) Keep the Emir well. I hereby inform you that the most honourable event that has transpired among the Arabs, and the most disgraceful event that has transpired among the Arabs, is one’. He said, ‘Woe be unto you, one?’ He said, ‘Yes, may Allah (azwj) Keep the Emir well’. He said, ‘Inform me’. He said, ‘Badr’. He said, ‘And how is that?’ He said, ‘Badr was the most prestigious event that has transpired among the Arabs because Allah (azwj) Mighty and Majestic Gave prestige to Al-Islam and its people, and it is the most honourable event to have transpired among the Arabs because Allah (azwj) Mighty and Majestic gave Honour to Al-Islam and its people, and it is the most disgraceful event to have transpired among the Arabs, for Qureysh were killed on that Day and the Arabs were humiliated’. Khalid said to him, ‘You have lied, by the Life of Allah (azwj) for there was no day more honourable for the Arabs than that Day. Woe be unto you, O Qatada, inform me of some of their poems’. He said, ‘Abu Jahl came out on that Day, so that his status may be seen, and upon him was a red turban, and in his hand was a golden shield and he was saying, ‘A detestable war like this cannot take its revenge against me as I am like a two year old camel at the peak of its strength, and it is for the like of this that my mother has borne me’. He said, ‘The enemy of Allah (azwj) has lied, the son of my brother was more of a horse than him, meaning Khalid Bin Waleed, and his mother was Qushayriyya’. Woe be unto you, O Qatada, who is the one who said, ‘I fulfil my promise and defend my status’. He said, ‘May Allah (azwj) Keep the Emir well, this was not on that Day. This was on the Day of Ohad. Talha Bin Abu Talha came out and he was calling out, ‘Who will come out for the duel?’ No one came out against him’. So he said, ‘You all are alleging that you will exit us by way of your swords to the Fire, and we would dispatch you by our swords to the Paradise, so let a man duel with me to exit me by his sword to the Fire and I will dispatch him by my sword to the Paradise’. So Ali (asws) Bin Abu Talib (asws) came out against him and he (asws) was saying: ‘I (asws) am the son (asws) the owner of the two Fountains Abdul Muttalib (as) and Hashim (as) the feeders in the year of the famine. I (asws) fulfil my (asws) promise and defend my (asws) status’. Khalid said, ‘May Allah (azwj) Curse him (asws). He (asws) has lied, by the Life of Allah (azwj). Abu Turab (asws) was not like that’. The old man said, ‘O Emir, allow me to leave’. He (the narrator) said, ‘The old man stood up to leave, opening the way through the crowd of people by his hands and he was saying, ‘An atheist (Zindeeq), by the Lord (azwj) of the Kaaba! An atheist (Zindeeq), by the Lord (azwj) of the Kaaba’.