BIG-HEARTEDNESS

Big-Heartedness ~ 269 ~ them.” Thus he contrived to take the patriarch to where the camel and his companion were waiting. There both men caught hold of him, tied his hands and feet and, setting him upon the camel, set off towards Damascus. In this way the patriarch was brought before Mu’awiya. The caliph called a large meeting, to which the captive was also summoned. The Qurayshi who had been struck by the Byzantine courtier was astonished to see his antagonist appear from behind a curtain. “Cousin,” Mu’awiya said to his fellow Qurayshi, “now is the time for you to be thankful to this Syrian. He has done exactly as I told him to, without the slightest omission. His efforts have enabled you to extract your right from the patriarch, without wronging him.” “If I had not sworn an oath,” said the Qurayshi, “I would have forgiven him.” Raising his hand, he struck the patriarch once. “That suffices,” he said. “I am pardoning him what remains to be done by way of punishment.” “You are our guest for three days,” Mu’awiya told the patriarch. When the three days were over, he