Note 172 — Chapter XI · CAMPAIGN IN SYRIA.—BATTLE OF WACUSA ON THE YERMUK. A.H. XIII. A.D. 634.

Abu Sofiân himself lost an eye; it was pierced by an arrow, which was with difficulty withdrawn. There is a foolish tale that Abdallah, son of Zobeir, then a boy, overheard Abu Sofiân, who, with a company of the Coreish, stood upon a knoll, applauding the Romans when they advanced, and crying, ‘Out upon you,’ when they fell back, as if siding with them. He ran and told his father, who laughed, saying, ‘It is mere spite, for we are a deal better than the Romans.’ This is a manifest anti-Omeyyad tale, for tradition is almost unanimous that Abu Sofiân, notwithstanding his age, distinguished himself that day by his valour and his ardour in stirring up the troops (Ibn Khaldûn, p. 85); and indeed it would have been altogether against his interest to have done otherwise.