1856.] Alfred von Kremer's edition of Wakidy. 67 



"When 'Abd Allah with his ten followers had arrived at Nakhlah* 

 he observed in the afternoon of the 28th of December, 623, a party 

 of four iTorayshite merchants. Their camels were laden with leather, 

 raisins and wine, and they were on their way from al-jPayif to 

 Makkah. They were frightened at the appearance of the stragglers, 

 whose sinister purpose must have been pretty clear from their light 

 mode of travelling. To remove suspicion from their minds, one of 

 them, 'Okkashah, had his head shaved, in order to look like a pilgrim. 

 The stratagem succeeded, the more because the new moon over the 

 western horizon assured the merchants that the sacred month of 

 Rajab had commenced, which was respected by the most abandoned 

 robbers, and in which the traveller might fearlessly go on his way. 

 They unloaded their camels and sent them over the plains to browse 

 and sat down to cook their dinner. When they were completely 

 off their guard, Wakid took advantage of the opportunity, shot an 

 arrow into them which killed the leading man among them. They 

 now made a rush upon the remaining three men and made two of 

 them prisoners, but the third being mounted on a swift mare effected 

 his escape, and reached Makkah the next morning.f The followers 



* " Nakhlah is identical with the Bostan Ibn 'Amir which is near Makkah" 

 (Ibn Sa'd p. 99). '* Bostan Ibn 'Amir is a corruption for Bostan Ma'mar (Ibn 

 Mo'ammar ?)" (Ibn ifotaybah, Adab al-kdtib). The full name of Mo'ammar from 

 whom the place has its name is Mo'ammar b. 'Obayd Allah b. Mo'ammar b, 'Oth* 

 man b 'Amr b. 4 Ka'b b. Sa'd b. Tamym b. Morrah b. Ka'b b*. Lowayy. Some 

 however, say it has its name from i/adhrarny Ibn 'Amir, and some say from 'Abd 

 Allah b. 'Amir b. Korayz, so that etymology gives us no clue to its history. Ba- 

 ralyusy in his commentary to Ibn ifotaybah maintains that the Bostan Ibn 'Amir 

 and the Bostan Ibn Mo'ammar are not identical, but he allows that the latter is 

 identical with Ba£n Nakhlah [Yaqut, Mu'jarn, voce Bostan]. The same author 

 (Yakut) says under Nakhlah that two valleys meet at Bostan Ibn 'Amir, one of which 

 comes from Karn almanazil and is called Nakhlah Yamanyyah i. e. Southern Nakh- 

 lah). Along this valley runs the road to Yaman. The other comes from al-Komayr 

 and is called Nakhlah Shamyyah or Northern Nakhlah. It is important to observe 

 that these two valleys belong to the Hodzayl tribe, and are two days journey from 

 Makkah. Bosian 'Amir is situated in Batfn Marr and Sabu&ah. 



f The* name of the man who was killed is 'Amr b. al-i/adhramy ['Abd Allah] 

 b. 'Abbad (' Imad or 'Ayyadz) of the Kindah tribe. He had three brothers, 

 one of them al-'Ala turned a Moslim. He had also a sister, Sa'bah who embraced 



2 K 



