312 Origin and progress of writing down historical facts. [No. 4. 



Aswad relates : " Alqamah brought writings from Makkah or 

 Yaman. It was a volume (or roll) and contained ^adythes regard- 

 ing the family of the prophet, and 'Abd Allah effaced it." <Wilc U. 



Aswad relates : " A man who was settled in Syria, came to 'Abd 

 Allah with a volume, which contained some of the sayings of Abu-1- 

 Darda or some of his stories, and 'Abd Allah after he had read a 

 good deal in it, effaced it." 



&*a+a3 u so (jOueJij] I £j<^| ^1 f^f e^o f&S IgjJ ^SL^r° Sjoo 



This version is, in all probability, the true one. Abu-1-Darda enter- 

 tained notions which considerably differed from those of 'Omar and 

 his party. And it is possible that this was the cause why 'Abd 

 Allah destroyed the book, In the following version he says that 

 the contents were heretical. 



" Aswad saw some persons in the mosque who were reading a 

 book, containing the praises of God, invocations, and blessings upon 

 the prophet. He wanted to copy it, and it was promised to him 

 after another man might have copied it who had already bespoken 

 it. Some days after he found it in the hands of Ibn Mas'iid, who 

 said, Are not the contents of this book mischievous, erroneous and 

 heretical ?" ^Jj *J$U>j &iSi &i^s:^| x*& ^i U <j| \j\ Jlif 



Solaym, a son of Aswad relates : that he and 'Abd Allah b. Mirdas 

 were reading a volume, which contained stories and passages from 

 the Qoran, # in company with a man of the Nokha' tribe. Ibn 

 Mirdas, according to his own statement, had bought some volumes 

 for money .f As he was waiting in the mosque — the place of rendez- 

 vous — for his friends, Ibn Mas'iid sent for him, and saying, The right 

 path is the path of Mo/iammad, &c. he destroyed it." 



29. 'Amr b. Maymun Awdy [d. 74] relates : " I was sitting in 

 the company of several persons at Kufah, and there came a man 

 who had a book." They asked, " What book is this ?" he replied, 

 "The book of Daniel J^\d tJJS Jtf." If the mob had not protected 

 him, he would have been killed. What ! they said, " You have a 

 book besides the Qoran ?" 



