عمرو بن العاص

[1] Amīr al-mu’minīn here refers to the incident when the ‘Conqueror of Egypt’, ‘Amr ibn al-‘Āṣ exhibited the feat of his courage by displaying his private parts. What happened was that when in the battlefield of Ṣiffīn he and Amīr al-mu’minīn had an encounter, he rendered himself naked in order to ward off the blow of the sword. At this Amīr al-mu’minīn turned his face away and spared him his life. The famous Arab poet al-Farazdaq said about it: There is no good in warding off trouble by ignominy as was done one day by ‘Amr ibn al-‘Āṣ by display of his private parts. Even in this ignoble act ‘Amr ibn al-‘Āṣ had not the credit of doing it himself, but had rather followed another one who had preceded him, because the man who first adopted this device was Ṭalḥah ibn Abī Ṭalḥah who had saved his life in the battle of Uḥud by becoming naked before Amīr al-mu’minīn, and so he showed this way to the others. Thus, besides ‘Amr ibn al-‘Āṣ this trick was played by Busr ibn Abi Arvāt also to save himself from the sword of Amīr al-mu’minīn. When after the performance of this notable deed Busr went to Mu‘āwiyah the latter recalled ‘Amr ibn al-‘Āṣ’s act as precedent in order to remove this man’s shamefulness and said, “O ' Busr, no matter. There is nothing to feel shameful about it in view of ‘Amr ibn al-‘Āṣ’s precedent before you.”