1922. } Dihyah al-Kalbi. 279 
authority and in thrall to you; wherefore send unto all over 
whomsoever you have authority in your realm instructions to 
cut off the heads of all Jews under their control, and so have 
peace of mind from this anxiety.” They were, I swear, en- 
gaged in working him round to this view of theirs alee there 
arrived a messenger from the Lord of Busra, !—for the rulers 
used to mutually apprise each other of any news, leading 
in an Arab, and the message he delivered was: “O Kin ng, this 
man of the she eep- and camel-rearing Arabs tells of a curious 
matter, that hath occurred in his country; interrogate him re- 
garding it.” When the mess senger of the Lord of Busra 
brought him to Heraclius, the latter said to his interpreter : 
‘Ask him what this affair is that has happened in e 
country.” So he asked him, and the man replie Ther 
appeared in our midst a man calling himself a prophet, ‘ibd 
some followed and believed in him, while others opposed him, 
and in many places there have been fights between them. Such 
was the state of affairs when I left them When he had im- 
parted to him this information, Heraclius gave the order: 
‘Strip him,”’ and when they stripped him he was found to be 
circumcised, whereupon Heraclius exclaimed: ‘‘ This, I swear 
it, is what I was shown; itis not as ye do say. Give him his 
se otaas Take yourself off” (addressed to the man; see ’Agha- 
, VI, 94). Then he summoned his Chief of the Guard and 
aoiiended him: ‘* Search Syria alee te and pus lh till you 
Bring me a man of the same people as this,’’ i.e. the Prophet. 
Vow I swear I was in Gaza when his “Chiet of the Guard burst 
in on us asking: ‘‘ Do you belong to the same people as this 
person in the Hijaz?’? We fe iach “Yes.” Then he said . 
* G Lg 
we ing him he asked : -« Are you of the same tribe as this 
1?” We said: “Yes.” He next asked: ‘‘ Which of you 
is is olosest elated to him?” I answered: “I.” Aba Sufyan 
Heraclius).’’ Heraclius next said: ‘“‘Approach.”” Then 
me before him and my companions behind me, he said: ‘I will 
question him, and if he — refute him.’’ Now I could swear 
would be that they would remember it against me, and cite it 
ofime,—so why should I speak falsely to him ?—(or, so 1 did not 


vim been decreed by Heraclius after the restoration of the empi ire, to 
ish them for the aid they had given, or were alleged to have vaipead 
the Persians (I, 733 n. 1); this massacre is said to have taken place in 
n ” 8, or the begin re. a 
a pot cena Sar mid-way between Damascus and Jerusalem 
