Note 84 — Chapter VIII · CAMPAIGN AGAINST THE REBELS IN THE EAST AND SOUTH OF ARABIA. A.H. XI. A.D. 632–3.

The verses are quoted by Tabari, vol. i. p. 224. The Arabs, and especially their poets, had the faculty of abusing one another in the grossest manner. About the same time, lampoons were bandied between Amr ibn Mádekerib and Farwa, a loyal chief of the Beni Murâd, who maintained a constant check upon Amr’s proceedings. As regards Farwa, we are told that when he first presented himself to Mahomet, he explained how his tribe and the Beni Hamdân had an idol which each kept alternately for a year. The contested possession of this idol led in bygone time to the famous battle of Al Razm.