Page:William Muir, Thomas Hunter Weir - The Caliphate; Its Rise, Decline, and Fall (1915).djvu/208

638–44] miscarriage of justice, ordered the witnesses to be scourged according to the ordinance, and the accused set free. "Strike hard," cried the barefaced Al-Moghīra, addressing the unwilling minister of the law;—"strike hard, and comfort my heart thereby!" "Hold thy peace," said ʿOmar; "it wanted but little to convict thee; and then thou shouldst have been stoned to death as an adulterer." The culprit was silenced, but not abashed. He continued to reside in Medīna, a crafty courtier at the Caliph's gate.

As successor, ʿOmar appointed Abu Mūsa to the government of Al-Baṣra, a man of very different stamp. Small of stature, smooth in face, and of little presence, he had yet distinguished himself at Ḥonein, and had been employed as an envoy by the Prophet. He wanted strength and firmness for the stormy times that were coming, but was wise and sufficiently able to hold the restless Bedawīn of Al-Baṣra in check. Belonging to a Bedawi tribe himself, it was perhaps an advantage, in the jealousies now growing up, to be outside the clique of Mecca and Medīna citizens. But feeling still the need of such support, he said to ʿOmar as he was leaving: "Thou must strengthen my hands with a company of the Companions of the Prophet, for verily they are as salt in the midst of the people"; and his request was granted, for he took nine-and-twenty men of mark along with him. But even Abu Mūsa was near losing his command, and that in a way which curiously illustrates ʿOmar's government. After a successful campaign against the Kurds, he sent, as usual, a deputation to Medīna with report of the victory, and the royal fifth. Ḍabba, a discontented citizen, being refused a place upon it, set out alone to Medīna, and there laid charges against Abu Mūsa, who was summoned by ʿOmar to clear himself. After some days of confinement, he was brought before the Caliph, face to face with his accuser. The first charge was that a band of youths taken in the expedition were used by him as attendants. "True," said Abu Mūsa; "they did me good service as guides; therefore I paid their ransom, and now, being free, they serve me." "He speaketh the truth," answered Ḍabba, "but what I said was also true." The second was that he held two landed properties. "I do," explained Abu Mūsa; "one for the subsistence of my family, the other for the sustenance of the people." Ḍabba answered