Note 579 — Chapter XLVII · SOME BIOGRAPHICAL NOTICES. A.H. XL.-L.

The subject was much canvassed by all parties. Prior to Islam, the law of marriage and legitimacy was lax; and a loose woman might, as in the present case, ascribe the paternity of her child to anyone prepared to admit the same; and (adds Ibn al Athîr) had Muâvia taken up this ground, there could have been no valid objection to it. But he did more; he proceeded to take the evidence of the owner of the slave-girl, as if the case had been one of Mahometan law, under which the paternity would not have been admitted, and the case, in fact, would have been held to be one of whoredom, demanding the punishment of both parties. Tradition varies as to whether Abu Sofiân himself ever acknowledged the paternity.

After Muâvia had recognised him as his brother, Ziâd proposed to go on pilgrimage to Mecca and Medîna. His brother, Abu Bakra (who, offended at his tergiversation in the adulterous charge against Moghîra, had never spoken to him since) sent a message to dissuade him. ‘Thou wilt meet Omm Habîba,’ he said, ‘if thou wilt go on pilgrimage. Now, if she receive thee as her brother, that will be regarded as a slight upon the memory of the Prophet; if otherwise, it will be a slight upon thyself.’ So Ziâd thought better of it, and gave up the design.

Again, Ziâd, wishing to extract an acknowledgment of his birth from Ayesha, addressed a letter to her in which he subscribed himself, Ziâd son of Abu Sofiân; to which she replied, without committing herself, merely thus, ‘To my dear son, Ziâd.’ On the same ground, Abbasside writers ordinarily name him without a patronymic, as, Ziâd ibn Abîhi, i.e. ‘Ziâd, son of his father.’ He is also called after his mother, ‘Ziâd ibn Sommeyya.’