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Hanzala said: "I knew nothing of your Day of Evil. As for the gifts of this life, they are meant for the living, and since I at this hour must drink of death, what can all the world's storehouses avail me now?" (49:1) Nu'man said, "There is no help for this." (49:2) Hanzala told him: "Respite me, then, that I may go back to my wife and make my testament. Next year I shall return, on the Day of Evil." (49:3) Nu'man then asked for a guarantor, so that, if Hanzala should break his word, this guarantor would be put to death instead. Hanzala, helpless and bewildered, looked about him. Then his gaze fell on one of Nu'man's retinue, Sharik, son of Amr, son of Qays of Shayban, and to him he recited these lines: "O my partner, O son of Amr! Is there any escape from death? O brother of every afflicted one! O brother of him who is brotherless! O brother of Nu'man, in thee today is a surety for the Shaykh. Where is Shayban the noble -- may the All-Merciful favor him!" But Sharik only answered, "O my brother, a man cannot gamble with his life." At this the victim could not tell where to turn. Then a man named Qarad, son of Adja' the Kalbite stood up and offered himself as a surety, agreeing that, should he fail on the next Day of Wrath to deliver up the victim, the king might do with him, Qarad, as he wished. Nu'man then bestowed five hundred camels on Hanzala, and sent him home. (49:4) In the following year on the Day of Evil, as soon as the true dawn broke in the sky, Nu'man as was his custom set out with pomp and pageantry and made for the two mausoleums called the Smeared-With-Blood. He brought Qarad along, to wreak his kingly wrath upon him. The pillars of the state then loosed their tongues and begged for mercy, imploring the king to respite Qarad until sundown, for they hoped that Hanzala might yet return; but the king's purpose was to spare the life of Hanzala, and to requite his hospitality by putting Qarad to death in his place. As the sun began to set, they stripped off the garments of Qarad, and made ready to sever his head. At that moment a rider appeared in the distance, galloping at top speed. Nu'man said to the swordsman, "Why delayest thou?" The ministers said, "Perchance it is Hanzala who comes." And when the rider drew near, they saw it was none other.
(49:5)
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