Home > Sira > A'cha ibn Qays, the poet who hesitated before Islam
The story of A’cha ibn Qays, the great poet: his journey toward Prophet Muhammad to embrace Islam, his long poem in praise, the obstacle of wine raised by Abu Jahl and his return, with Ibn Kathir’s dating correction, from Ibn Hisham and as-Souhayli.
Updated on 07 September 2026 at 11:07 PM
Ibn Hisham said: Khallad ibn Qourra ibn Khalid as-Sadoussi and other sheikhs of Bakr ibn Wa’il, among the people of knowledge, related to me that A’cha ibn Qays ibn Tha’laba ibn Uqaba ibn Sa’b ibn Ali ibn Bakr ibn Wa’il set out toward the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) intending to embrace Islam, and he said, praising the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him):
“Have your eyes closed a night, dark, … while you kept vigil like the sleepless one of the clan of Salim ;”
“It is not love of women: it is that you have forgotten … before this day a love long established ;”
“But I see Time, the traitor: … when my palms grew firm, it returned to corrupt ;”
“Old and young, I have lost Thrarwa: … to Allah belongs this time that turns and returns ;”
“I never ceased seeking wealth since my youth, … a boy then a grown man, when I grew up, solitary ;”
“And I would slaughter the fat camels on the grazing paths … over the distance from an-Nujayr to Sarhkad ;”
“Listen, O you who asks: where is she heading ? … she has a tryst with the people of Yathrib ;”
“Should you ask about me, O how many an asker … curious about al-A’cha, wherever he ascends ;”
“She hastened her feet to safety, then returned, … her hands clasped, supple, without roughness ;”
“She, when the she-camel of the Ajrafiyya gallops … you would think to see the gazelle of the upland flushed ;”
“I vowed never to shelter her, heirless, … nor any kindled coal, until she meets Muhammad ;”
“Whenever you halt at the door of the son of Hashim, … you rest and receive from his liberal hands the brimming cup ;”
“A Prophet who sees what you do not see: his name …, by my life, has shone through the lands and has brought aid ;”
“He has alms never interrupted and a gift …: today’s giving does not bar tomorrow’s ;”
“Have you not heard, you who are full, the counsel of Muhammad, … the Prophet of God, where he counseled and bore witness :”
“If you travel not with the provision of piety, … you shall meet after death him who has provisioned ;”
“You will regret not being like him, … and will lie in wait for the affair that was awaited ;”
“Beware of the dead, do not draw near them, … and take not a sharp arrow to wound ;”
“And here is the standing stone: do not offer it sacrifice, … worship not the idols, but Allah: worship Him ;”
“And approach not a free woman whose secret … is forbidden to you: marry her, or remain chaste forever ;”
“And here is the kinship of blood: sever it not … for gain, nor the captive in chains ;”
“And glorify at the hours of evening and forenoon, … praise not the devil and Allah: praise Him ;”
“And mock not the wretched one in need, … and think not that wealth makes man eternal.”
Ibn Hisham said: when he was in Mecca or near it, some polytheists of Quraysh intercepted him and asked him about his affair. He informed them that he had come to see the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) to embrace Islam. The man said: “O Abu Bassir, he forbids fornication.” A’cha answered: “By Allah, that troubles me not at all.” The other said: “O Abu Bassir, he forbids wine.” A’cha answered: “As for that, by Allah, the soul finds in it true ills; but I shall return, cure myself this year, then I shall come to him and embrace Islam.” He went back, and died that very year, without returning to the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him).
Ibn Kathir notes: this is how Ibn Hisham introduced this account here; yet he takes Muhammad ibn Ishaq to task on many such counts, and this is among them. Indeed, wine was forbidden only in Medina, after the affair of the Banu an-Nadir, as its explanation will come: it thus appears that A’cha’s resolve to come and embrace Islam dated only from after the Hijra, and his poem contains what indicates it, in this verse: “Listen, O you who asks: where is she heading? she has a tryst with the people of Yathrib.” It would have been more fitting and proper for Ibn Hisham to postpone this account to what followed the Hijra, not to introduce it here: Allah is most knowing. as-Souhayli said: that is an oversight of Ibn Hisham and of those who followed him, for the people are unanimous that the prohibition of wine descended only in Medina, after Uhud. And it is said: the one who spoke thus to A’cha was Abu Jahl ibn Hisham, in the house of Utba ibn Rabia. Abu Ubayda mentioned that the one who said this to him was Amir ibn at-Toufayl, in the territory of Qays, as he was heading toward the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him). Ibn Kathir concludes: his words “then I shall come to him and embrace Islam” do not remove him from disbelief, without divergence. Allah is most knowing.
Ibn Ishaq then mentioned here the story of the man of Irash, and how he sought the Messenger of Allah’s (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) aid against Abu Jahl over the price of the camel he had bought from him, and how Allah humiliated Abu Jahl and compelled him to pay the price at once: we have already related that at the beginning of the revelation and of the harms the polytheists inflicted then.