Page:William Muir, Thomas Hunter Weir - The Caliphate; Its Rise, Decline, and Fall (1915).djvu/200

 637–41] threatened on Ispahān. But events were now transpiring in Khorāsān, which at length opened the way to an advance upon the heart of Persia, and called that leader to more stirring work.

The deputation which, along with the spoil of Tostar, carried Al-Hormuzān a prisoner to Medīna, throws light upon the reasons that weighed with the Caliph to withdraw his long-standing embargo on a forward movement. As the party drew near Medīna, they dressed out the captive in his brocaded vestments, to show to the Citizens the fashion of a Persian noble. Wearied with the reception of a deputation from Al-Kūfa (for in this way he transacted much of the provincial business), ʿOmar had fallen asleep, whip in hand, on his cushioned carpet in the great Mosque. When the captive Prince entered the precincts of the court, "Where is the Caliph?" he cried, looking round, "and where his guards and warders?" It was indeed a contrast between the sumptuous palaces of the Chosroes, to which he had been used, and the simple surroundings of the mightier Caliph! Disturbed by the noise, ʿOmar started up, and, divining who the stranger was, exclaimed, "Blessed be the Lord, who hath humbled this man and the like of him!" He made them disrobe the prisoner and clothe him in coarse raiment. Then, still whip in hand, he upbraided Al-Hormuzān, and (Al-Moghīra interpreting) bade him justify the repeated breach of his engagements. The captive made as if fain to reply; then gasping, like one faint from thirst, begged for a draught of water. "Give it," said the Caliph, "and let him drink in peace." "Nay," said the captive, trembling, "I fear to drink, lest someone slay me unawares." "Thy life is safe," said ʿOmar, "until thou hast drunk the water up." The words were no sooner spoken than Al-Hormuzān poured the contents upon the ground. "I wanted not the water," he said, "but quarter, and now thou hast given it me." "Liar!" cried ʿOmar angrily, "thy life is forfeit." "But not," interposed the bystanders, "until he drink the water up." "Strange," said ʿOmar, foiled for once, "the fellow hath deceived me, and yet I cannot spare the life of one who hath slain so many of the faithful by reiterated treachery. I swear that thou shalt not gain by thy deceit, unless thou embrace Islām." Al-Hormuzān, nothing loth, made pro-