On the Papyrus of Wahb B. Munabbih: An Addendum

Wahb_addendum.pdf NOTES AND COMMUNICATIONS ON THE PAPYRUS OF WAHB B. MUNABBIH: AN ADDENDUM The fragments of the Sira of Wahb b. Munabbih carefully edited by R. G. Khoury1 contain some misreadings or misinterpretations, several of which were elucidated in BSOAS, XXXVII, 3, 1974, 545-56. Additional corrections are suggested in the following lines. PB 2 (31) I..\:::>\ 41Z U ";'1 r,;.a I~ J,,_)I ...u -!.l.i~ Lines 2-3: t } '.r!- ~ ~~ .!l!J1 ~ ':J ...ul jl J.f ~ j~ are rendered by Khoury: 2 'Leute, die zweifeln, indem du ihnen den Zweifel und die Blindheit nimmst, als Rechtleitung fur mein Volk; wenn du sie nicht verkiindet hattest, so waren sie nicht rechtgeleitet worden. 3 Du bekennst, dass es nichts ausser Allah gibt, und dass du zum Zeugnisablegen sein Gesandter bist '. The correct reading is : 1..\:.01 U ~ () (~) <;S[:} I r,;.a I-,-~' JJ-".,-JI ....J .!.L..i~ ~~ '.r!- •.; .!l!J1 ~ ~ .)~ 2 ':J ~I l.il J.r!..i.i 3 which should be translated: 2 'Through the light which dispels the doubt and the blindness from them, 2 the guidance of my people (1); had not he uttered it he would not follow the right path. 3 Therefore we testify that there is nothing except God and that you are the Messenger of God'. Line 9: The word of course to Go~. GJ and translates 'Der Gesandte Gottes sah die Wirkung da[vo]n an meiner Erregung'. The correct reading is: ~J the phrase should be rendered: 'and the Messenger of God saw the mark of it in my face'. Line 19: Khoury J.; Line 21: ~y.. -)1 ..j),J1 ;u..1 ~.~!., Line 15 is read by Khoury: PB 13 (42) JA[j] ~~.u~ J .JJI 0.>L, and translated 15 'So Gott will, gibt es in der Stadt Rennpferde, und Hufe tragen die aufbrechenden Rassepferde '. The reading and translation of the first hemistich of this verse are unsatisfactory. Verse 15 forms a continuation of the preceding one in which the story of the horse whose feet sank into the ground was told. Balad is here not , Stadt' and jiyad 'Rennpferde', cannot be understood in any possible syntactical construction. The reading seems to be : ')1:,>-)1 ..j),J1 ;u..1 'JA[!.] .JL;.>- ~ L~ and should be rendered: 'By God's will, in a land with crumbling ground in which the feet of beasts sink (khabar), the hoof lifts up the strong horse of high breed '. 'trafen sie alle angese[henen] Manner von Qurais '. The correct reading seems to be c7: !,Ai~ .P..ri [.>]~l 'they (i.e. the Banu Makhziim-K.) met all the clans of Quraysh '. ('""'.:>-1 ~. '1 i."AI1 Jli l:.,..-.i .r ~.rl ~ 4. r-:~ Jw Jli ..:.~ translated by Khoury: 9 'Da sagten einige von ihnen: "0 'AIr, du hast uns unserer Abstammung beraubt." Und die Leute sagten, sie brechen mit ihrem Neffen '. The phrase beginning i."AI1 JU has, however, been misunderstood by Khoury and consequently misinterpreted. 'Ali is blamed by some people of Makhziim for distorting their pedigree by naming Hudayd as their ancestor; they do not trace their ancestry to him.s 'Alr, of course, answers the accusation of the people. The word qala is not the predicate of al-qaum; qala is a complete sentence in which 'Ali is the understood subject. Al-qaum is the subject of the next sentence, whose predicate is formed by the following words. The~. '1 should be changed into ~. '1. The phrase should be read if. ~. '1 i."Al1 :Jli r-'':>'\ and rendered: 'He (i.e. 'Alr-K.) said: "The people (i.e. the kinsmenK.) would not kill their nephew" '. 'Alr points to the ties of kinship linking the Prophet with the Banii Makhziim and blames them for organizing the plot to kill their nephew. In fact the grandmother of the Prophet, the mother of Lines 1-2: Khoury reads .p..} [~]t::-Its": !,Ai~and translates: PB 14 (43) !fine 9: IS 3 The gloss on the margin asserts that the Banii Makhzfim trace back their pedigree to Husays, but 'Ali changed it in his poem (scil. into Hudayd-s-Kv). But the Makhziim do not trace their pedig ree to Husays ; Husuys is the ancestor of the Banii Jumal;i (see Mus'ab b. 'Abdallah alZubayri, Nasab Quraysh, ed. E. Levi-Proveneal, Cairo, 1953, p. 13, I. 12, p. 386, I. Il). NOTES AND CmnIUNICATIONS 127 'Abdallah, was Fatima bint 'Amr b. 'A.'idh b. 'Imran b. Makhziim. Her mother as well was a Makhzumi woman.! In his answer there is a clear hint that loyal kinsmen would not commit such a shameful deed and therefore they deserved the distortion of their nasab: they cannot be true Makhziimis. Line 15 is read by Khoury: .J. L- '" 4,; i}l [~] I 'J":" \ (n .:,Ja[j] '.r-~.,j-" 11 ~ I '-;-::""" I l._---1J 11 Fill' .~I and translated: 15 ' Als der Mann (von dem Ungliick) befallen wurde, da geizte er mit seinem Fohlen, [und] mein Bruder meinte, we[nn] er tadle, so bleibe Taiban geduldig '. 'I'here is, however, no mention of a person named Tayban, The correct reading is probably: .J.l.- "'~ i}l[>)!I] tj"-i -,:;.4[S"] .~. .~I ,-:-,::,-",i -,:;.4 which should be rendered: 'And when the man was afflicted he clung tenaciously to his colt, like the man (experienced in interpretation) of dreams clings tenaciously to the interpretation (to be given) to the dreamer'. Line 21,' if.;!1 J.::. ~, compare al-A'shii, Diwan, ed. R. Geyer, London, 1928, p. 44 (VI, 31) : <.J"'.;!I ~ J:.. '-U;J. Line 22,' .J.L... :~,;.; ,J y ;JJ':> I..w:.",I "" }II ~.~ is translated by Khoury: 22 'und du hattest. die Gewissheit dass es unabwendbar ist, dass Muhammad ein Reich hat, das seine Spuren aufbauen werden'. The correct reading seems to be It·".:and the verse should be rendered: 'And you would be certain that Muhammad (will) inevitably gain power, the signs of which have already made it evident '. M. J. KISTER UJ • See Muhammad b. Habib, fol. 1b. (p. 10). Il-mmahiit. al-Nub], ed, Husayn 'Ali Mal:tfii~, Baghdad, 1371/1952,