AL-HARITH got up and started towards his camel...

AL-HARITH got up and started towards his camel, saying, "O God, if what Muhammad says is true and this is from Thee, then let a stone fall on me from the heavens and send some other very bitter calamity…." The following AYA of the QUR'AN was revealed on this occasion: "An enquirer demanded and called for a penalty to fall on the unbelievers; there shall be none to avert the same from being inflicted by God, Lord of the Ways of Ascent". (SURA LXX, 2).

There are other authorities to the same effect in proof of this event. Three possible questions may arise in this connection. Firstly, in many authorities it is stated that -AL-HARITH came to the prophet in the valley of "ABTAH" which is generally known to be near MAKKA, whereas after this Last Hajj the prophet did not go again to MAKKA. Secondly, SURAT AL-M'A'ARIJ, in which this AYA occurs, was revealed at MAKKA, while the event is said to have happened at Medina.

Thirdly, the last AYA of the QUR'AN is "Today I have completed for you your religion", which at this time had already been revealed at KHUM, so the AYA under discussion must have come before it, not after it. I proceed to clarify the position. Concerning the first question, "ABTAH" is not restricted in meaning to the valley of MEKKA alone.

It is a generic term embracing all the valleys through which water passes and which are full of small pebbles, wherever they may be situated, as seen from Arabic dictionaries. As an example, let us see the use to which IBN KHALLAKAN puts this word. In his "WAFIYYAT-AL-A'YAN" on the life of IBN-SAIFI, he copies his couplets referring to the conduct of BANU OMAYYA in shedding blood when they came to power.

One of the couplets, contrasting them with BANU HASHIM who always protected the weak and refrained from shedding innocent blood, runs as follows: "When we were in power, To forgive people was in our nature: But when you came to wield power, Blood flowed in ABTAH". He is referring here to the shedding of the blood of the children of the prophet at KARBALA in the valley of the Euphrates, and has applied the word "ABTAH" to this valley.

Lastly, we may mention that even in Medina there is an "ABTAH", or "BAT-HA" which is the same things. Concerning the second question, every student of the QUR'AN knows that many verses have been repeated, one AYA being revealed at MAKKA and then the same AYA being revealed again at Medina, the repetition of an event of the same nature necessitating the repetition of the verse.