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I know the mourners
were of the jinn.
'A'ishah
In the previous
chapter, we stated that 'A'ishah quoted some traditions
from the Prophet in order to support and establish
the rule of her father, Abu Bakr, and his old
friend, 'Umar. After a survey of some of them,
we found that the time of their appearance by
no means corresponds with the period of the rule
of Abu Bakr and 'Umar, but they became prevalent
many years after them. One of these traditions
is the one related to the lamentations of the
jinn mourning for 'Umar which has, in all probability,
been narrated after his death or some time afterwards.
The tradition is as follows: Three days before
'Umar was killed, the jinn sat in mourning for
him and sang the following elegy (111):
"Would the earth grow grass once more after
the assassinated one who lay down in his blood,
and the world sank in darkness and gloom mourning
for him?
May God grant such a leader as you a good reward
on our behalf and bestow His favour and grace
upon your torn body.
He who perches on the wing of thought so that
he might perform such good deeds as yours, will
never succeed.
In your rule you have accomplished tasks in the
best manner, but what dormant mischief's exposed
their visage after you!
What I never thought of before and had no idea
was that the death of such a leader would be brought
about by this gray-eyed, leopard-natured executioner!"
We think it probable that this story was made
up after 'Umar's death or even a long time after
that, for the following reasons:
1-In the said poem, a reference is made to the
rise of mischief's and sedition's all of which
are related to the second half of 'Uthman's caliphate
and subsequent period, and not to end of 'Umar's
rule and beginning of 'Uthman's caliphate.
The poem says:
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