Note 77 — Chapter VIII · CAMPAIGN AGAINST THE REBELS IN THE EAST AND SOUTH OF ARABIA. A.H. XI. A.D. 632–3.
Reading edition
According to another account of this affair, Khâlid (who had been appointed by Mahomet collector of tithes and resident with the Beni Zobeid in the quarter south of Mecca), attacked Amr ibn Mádekerib, and having taken his sister prisoner, obtained the sword as her ransom. The sword came several years afterwards into the possession of the Governor of Kûfa, who offered to give it back to Amr; to show its marvellous temper, Amr took it, and at one blow severed the pack on his mule’s back in two. Then he returned it to the governor, saying that he could not retain a sword of which he had once been despoiled. Among other poetry is some by Amr himself:—‘The sword of the son of Dzu Cayfar (A.D. 475) was mine; its blade was tempered in the age of Ad. It hath a grooved blade which cleaveth helmets, and the bodies of men, in twain.’ See Caussin de Perceval, vol. i. p. 117; also Mr. C. J. Lyall’s translations from the Hamasah. Journal As. Soc. of Bengal, 1877, vol. xlvi. pp. 179, et seq. It is curious to remark how many Arab warriors were also poets of renown.