Thaqif’s Alarm at the Shooting Stars and Their Question to ‘Amr ibn Umayyah

When a man traveled and stopped in a valley to spend the night, he would say, “I seek refuge tonight in the mighty lord of this valley from the evil of what is in it.” Ibn Hisham explains rahq as transgression and folly; the word can also mean pursuing something until one nearly reaches it, or bearing a heavy sin or hardship. He cites verses by Ru’bah ibn al-‘Ajjaj illustrating these senses. Ibn Ishaq said: Ya‘qub ibn ‘Utbah ibn al-Mughirah ibn al-Akhnas related that the first Arabs alarmed by shooting stars were this clan of Thaqif. They went to a man among them named ‘Amr ibn Umayyah, of Banu ‘Ilaj, whom they regarded as exceptionally shrewd, and asked, “Have you seen what has happened in the sky, with these stars being shot?” He said, “Yes. Consider this: if the stars used for navigation on land and sea, and for knowing the seasonal rains of summer and winter that sustain people’s livelihoods, are the ones being shot, then this means the world is ending and its inhabitants will perish. But if they are other stars, while the familiar signs remain in place, then this is something Allah intends concerning creation. What is it?” His question continues on page 207.

[1] Istabi means to take someone’s wits away; hayyamah describes intense thirst, originally a disease in camels that leaves them unsated by water. [2] “They wagged their tails” is intended. [3] Ya‘qub ibn ‘Utbah was a reliable transmitter who narrated from al-Sa’ib ibn Yazid, Aban ibn ‘Uthman, ‘Urwah, Sulayman ibn Yasar, and al-Zuhri, among others. He died in 128 AH. See biographical works. [4] Recension A reads an uncommon expression meaning exceptionally shrewd; other copies have “most cunning.” [5] Ma‘alim al-nujum means the well-known constellations.

If those were the stars being shot, he said, they would be the signs by which people guide themselves in their livelihoods; their loss would mean the world’s end. But if other stars were being shot while the familiar ones stayed fixed, then it signaled an event Allah intended for creation. He asked, “What is it?”

The jinn of Banu Lahab reportedly became alarmed at the shooting stars and gathered around their soothsayer Khatar, who explained what had happened and the approaching mission. See al-Rawd al-Unuf.