A Dream of Ibn ‘Unayn – A Seventh Century Poet
An astonishing event has been quoted in the book Umdatul Talib regarding Bani Dawud b. Musa al-Hasani who is renowned amongst the genealogists and others, and it is transmitted through a reliable chain of authorities and quoted in the ‘Diwan’ of Ibn ‘Unayn.
The famous poet, Ibn ‘Unayn, once proceeded towards Makkah with a large amount of wealth and merchandise. On the way, he encountered some of the sadat8 of Bani Dawud, who robbed him and destroyed all of his merchandise; they even took the clothes off of his body, injured him and left him alone in a wretched state.
Ibn ‘Unayn wrote a letter to ‘Aziz b. Ayyub, the King of Yemen, complaining to him (aout what had happened to him) and requested his assistance. During that period, the king of Yemen had dispatched his brother, Malik Nasir to the bank of a river that he had freed from the hands of the Europeans and had conquered. Malik Nasir requested his brother (the king) to permit him to stay for a while at the banks of the river.
Ibn ‘Unayn, in his letter that was comprised of a provocative couplet, incited the king of Yemen to seek revenge from the sadat who had plundered his belongings. The starting words of the couplet were as follows:
“Your virtuous qualities and munificence are beyond the capacity of eulogizing by the eloquent; you have reached such position with regards to your benevolence that has exceeded the frontiers of goodness; do not say that I have conquered the bank that was under the colonization of the Europeans, for the bank cannot be compared with the city of Aden, these both cannot be similar; then if you intend the ‘holy war’, unsheath your sword against the community that have destroyed the precepts and customs of Allah; then purify the ‘House of Allah’ (the Ka’bah) with your sword from the pollution and the degraded and ugly community (the Bani Dawud); do not say that they are among the progeny of Fatimah and that you would not fight them; for if these people would have gained access to the family of Harb (Abu Sufyan), they would have united to kill Imam Hasan.”
When Ibn ‘Unayn compiled these verses and sent it to the king of Yemen, one day he dreamt that he was near the Ka’bah. Sayyidah Zahra was circumambulating the Ka’bah. He stepped forward and saluted her but she did not reply to him. He started weeping and humbly asked her what sin he had commited that stopped her from replying to his salutation. In reply to Ibn ‘Unayn, Sayyidah Zahra recited the following verses:
“Never! The entire progeny of Fatimah be base and degraded, but time has oppressed us with deceit and deception; if one person from among my progeny dealt with you with evil, you should not have deliberately abused us all; then repent on your attitude, for if any one treats us badly and then repents (sincerely), Allah will forgive him; then hold them (the sadat) dear for the sake of their grandfather Mustafa and do not hurt any one from among his progeny nor insult them; then whatever (harm) reaches you from them, ask its recompense from us on the Day of Resurrection when you meet us.”
Ibn ‘Unayn relates that, “I awoke from my sleep wailing and in fear. I saw that the wounds of my body had healed due to Sayyidah Zahra. I repented and regretted my words and then compiled these words in repentance:
‘I repent in the presence of the daughter of the Messenger, the Guide against the crime and request her to forgive me; and accept repentance from the one who suffered due to his words; I swear by Allah that if anyone from among them (the sadat) were to tear me to pieces with their spears or swords, I shall not deem it to be evil, but shall look at it with goodness.’”
House of Sorrows Translation of Baytul AhzanShaikh Abbas Al – Qummi