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The visitor met the impostor.
"Are you Musailima?" he enquired.
"Yes."
"Who came to you?"
"Rahman." (i.e. the Beneficent
One).
"In light or in darkness?"
"In darkness."
"I bear witness", declared
Talha, "that you are an impostor and Muhammad is genuine.
But an impostor from our tribe is preferable to a true one from
the Quraish." 1 This man later
fought and died beside Musailima.
In appearance Musailima was terrible. A
short?statured man, though immensely strong, he had a yellow complexion,
small, close-set eyes and a flat nose. He was extremely ugly. But
as often happens with very ugly and evil men, he had an irresistible
fascination for women. They could not say "No!" He was
such a talented and unscrupulous Casanova that no woman left alone
with him could resist his advances or escape his devilish charm.
But Sajjah the impostress did not know this
facet of Musailima's many-sided character as she set out for Yamamah.
She would soon learn!
Sajjah marched with her army towards Yamamah.
Musailima came to know of this move and was perturbed, for he did
not know whether her intentions were hostile or friendly. He could
certainly defeat her army in battle, but Ikrimah with his corps
was camped some distance to the west, and Musailima had been waiting
for several weeks for the Muslims to advance. If Ikrimah were to
move at the time when he was engaged with the army of Sajjah, he
would be in a most vulnerable position. It would mean simultaneous
war with two enemies, Sajjah and the Muslims. Musailima decided
to win over Sajjah and neutralise her. He knew how to deal with
her: he would handle her as he would handle any woman, the art of
which he knew so well.
He sent a message to Sajjah not to bring
her warriors, as there was no work for them at Yamamah. She could
come alone for talks. Consequently Sajjah left her army in camp
and rode forward with 40 of her warriors to meet Musailima the Liar.
She arrived at Yamamah to find the gate of the fort closed, and
she received Musailima's instructions to leave her men outside and
enter alone. Sajjah agreed, and leaving her 40 followers to bide
their time in a camp, entered the fort.
Musailima had had a large tent pitched for
her in the courtyard of his house. Since the weather was chilly,
he had the tent properly heated so that she would be comfortable.
And he had a certain incense burning in the tent that would affect
Sajjah's senses in the way that he desired. It would make her shed
her inhibitions!
She entered the tent. Some time later Musailima
also entered. They were alone. The impostor began to talk, weaving
a spell over the woman. He talked of Allah and of politics, of the
trouble that he was having with the Quraish who were as numerous
as 'the scales of a fish'.
After this preamble he said, "Tell me of our revelations."
"A woman should not begin",
she replied. "You tell me first what has been revealed to
you."
She gazed at him with awe as he intoned, as if reciting a Quranic
verse:
Do you not see your Lord?
How he deals with pregnant women? He extracts a living being
From between the belly and the intestines.
1. Tabari: Vol. 2, p. 508.
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