Home > Sira > Offering himself to the tribes of the Arabs in the seasons of pilgrimage
The call of Prophet Mohamed to the Arab tribes: the offering of his self in the pilgrimage seasons, the pursuit of Abu Lahab, the episode of Bayhara ibn Firas, the account of Banu Shayban with Abu Bakr, and the victory of Quraqir.
Updated on 07 September 2026 at 11:07 PM
The resplendent sun rises not upon them: but upon his like among them, more honored and more generous,
Refusing to refuse, gentlest of manners: and swiftest to the neighbor’s right when night is dark.
I say: this is why the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said, on the day the captives of Badr were drawn up: "were the feeder, son of Adi, alive, and were he to ask me for these foul ones, I would give them to him." The chapter of the offering of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) of his noble self to the tribes of the Arabs in the seasons of pilgrimage: that they give him refuge and aid him: and protect him from whoever belied him and opposed him: and none of them answered him: because of what Allah the Most High had stored up for the Ansar of great generosity (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him). Ibn Ishaq said: the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) came to Mecca, and his people were at the hardest they had been upon him, in opposing him and forsaking his religion: except a few weak ones of those who had believed in him. The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) would offer himself, at the seasons when they came, to the tribes of the Arabs, calling them to Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him): and informing them he was a prophet sent: and asking them to confirm him and protect him: until he made plain from Allah what he was sent with.
Ibn Ishaq said: one of our companions whom I do not suspect told me, from Zayd ibn Aslam, from Rabi’a ibn Ibad ad-Duli, or what Abu az-Zinad related of him. Husayn ibn Abdallah ibn Ubaydallah ibn Abbas told me: I heard Rabi’a ibn Ibad relating to his father: I was a young lad with my father at Mina: and the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) stood at the halting places of the tribes of the Arabs, saying: "O sons of so-and-so: I am the Messenger of Allah to you: I command you to worship Allah and associate nothing with Him: and to cast off what you worship besides Him of these rivals: and to believe in me: and confirm me: and protect me: until I make plain from Allah what I was sent with." Behind him was a cross-eyed man of bright face, with two hanging temples, wearing a Yemenite garment: when the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) finished his word and his call, that man said: O sons of so-and-so: this one calls you only to strip al-Lat and al-Uzza from your necks: and your allies of the jinn of Banu Malik ibn Uqaysh: to what he brings of innovation and misguidance: so obey him not, nor listen to him. I said to my father: O father, who is this man who follows him and answers what he says? He said: this is his uncle Abd al-Uzza ibn Abd al-Muttalib: Abu Lahab.
And Imam Ahmad reported this hadith, from Ibrahim ibn Abi l-Abbas: Abd ar-Rahman ibn Abi az-Zinad told us, from his father: a man informed me, called Rabi’a ibn Ibad of Banu ad-Dil, who was of the Jahiliyya and then became a Muslim: I saw the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) in the Jahiliyya at the market of Dhu l-Majaz, saying: "O people, say: there is no god but Allah. You will prosper." And the people gathered upon him, and behind him a man of bright face, cross-eyed, with two hanging temples, saying: he is a lying Sabian: he followed him wherever he went: I asked about him, and they mentioned to me the lineage of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him), and said: this is his uncle Abu Lahab. And al-Bayhaqi reported it, through Muhammad ibn Abdallah al-Ansari, from Muhammad ibn Amr, from Muhammad ibn al-Munkadir, from Rabi’a ad-Duli: I saw the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) at the market of Dhu l-Majaz, pursuing the people in their dwelling places, and behind him a cross-eyed man whose two temples protruded: saying: O people, let not this one beguile you from your religion and the religion of your fathers. I said: who is this? They said: Abu Lahab.
And thus Abu Nu’aym reported it in ad-Dala’il, through Ibn Abi Dhi’b and Sa’id ibn Salama ibn al-Hussum: both, from Muhammad ibn al-Munkadir, in like manner. Then al-Bayhaqi reported it through Shu’ba, from al-Ash’ath ibn Sulaym, from a man of Kinana: I saw the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) at the market of Dhu l-Majaz saying: "O people, say: there is no god but Allah, you will prosper." And behold a man behind him casting dust upon his head: and behold it was Abu Jahl: saying: O people, let not this one beguile you from your religion: he only intends that you forsake the worship of al-Lat and al-Uzza. Thus said Abu Jahl in this account: and it may be an error: and it is possible that once it was this one and once that one: and that the two of them took turns in harming him (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him).
Ibn Ishaq said: and Ibn Shihab az-Zuhri told me that he came to Kinda in their halting places: and among them was a lord of theirs called Mulayh: he called them to Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him): and offered them his self: and they refused him.
Ibn Ishaq said: Muhammad ibn Abd ar-Rahman ibn Abdallah ibn Husayn told me that he came to Kalb in their halting places, to a clan of theirs called Banu Abdallah: he called them to Allah: and offered them his self, until he said to them: "O sons of Abdallah: Allah has beautified the name of your father." They accepted not from him what he offered them. And some of our companions told me, from Abdallah ibn Ka’b ibn Malik, that the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) came to Banu Hanifa in their halting places: called them to Allah: and offered them his self: and none of the Arabs gave him an uglier reply than they.
And az-Zuhri told me that he came to Banu Amir ibn Sa’sa’a: called them to Allah: and offered them his self: and a man of them, called Bayhara ibn Firas, said: by Allah, were I to take this youth of Quraysh I would eat with him the Arabs. Then he said to him: what do you think: if we followed you in your affair, and Allah made you prevail over whoever opposes you: would the affair be ours after you? He said: "the affair is Allah’s: He places it where He wills." He said: so we would expose our necks to the Arabs on your account, and when Allah makes you prevail the affair would be for others than us! We have no need of your affair. They refused him. And when the people departed, Banu Amir returned to a shaykh of theirs whom age had overtaken, until he could no longer attend the season with them: and when they returned to him they would relate to him what happened in that season. When they came to him that year he asked them about their season, and they said: a youth of Quraysh came to us, one of the sons of Abd al-Muttalib, claiming he is a prophet: calling us to protect him: and stand with him: and go out with him to our land. The shaykh placed his hand upon his head, then said: O Banu Amir, is there in it any loss? Have its tails any pursuit? By Him in whose hand is the soul of so-and-so, never did an Ismailite fabricate it: and it is true: so where was your opinion from you!
And Musa ibn ’Uqba said, from az-Zuhri: the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) was, in those years, offering himself to the tribes of the Arabs every season: and speaking to every noble of a people: asking them nothing thereby but that they give him refuge and protect him: saying: "I compel none of you to anything: whoever of you is content with what I call to, so be it: and whoever dislikes it, I compel him not: I only intend that you guard me from what is intended against me of killing, until I convey the message of my Lord: and until Allah decides for me and for whoever accompanied me what He wills." None of them accepted him: and none of those tribes came but he said: the man’s people know him better: do you think a man will reform us when he has corrupted his people and they cast him off? And that was among what Allah stored up for the Ansar and honored them with.
The hafiz Abu Nu’aym reported, through Abdallah ibn al-Ajlah, and Yahya ibn Sa’id al-Umawi: both, from Muhammad ibn as-Sa’ib al-Kalbi, from Abu Salih, from Ibn Abbas, from al-Abbas: the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said to me: I see for myself no protection with you, nor with your brother: will you bring me out to the market tomorrow, that you point out to me the halting places of the tribes of the people? And it was the gathering place of the Arabs. I said: this is Kinda and its girth: and it is the best of those who make pilgrimage to the House from Yemen: and these are the halting places of Bakr ibn Wa’il: and these the halting places of Banu Amir ibn Sa’sa’a: so choose for yourself. He began with Kinda and came to them: "of whom is the people?" They said: of the people of Yemen. "Of which Yemen?" "Of Kinda." "Of which Kinda?" "Of Banu Amr ibn Mu’awiya." "Have you then desire of good?" They said: and what is it? "You testify that there is no god but Allah and establish the prayer: and believe in what comes from Allah."
Abdallah ibn al-Ajlah said: and my father told me, from elders of his people, that Kinda said to him: if you prevail, will you set for us the kingship after you? The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said: "the kingship is Allah’s: He places it where He wills." They said: we have no need of what you came with. Al-Kalbi said: they said: you came to us to turn us from our deities, and that we skirmish with the Arabs: the truth is with your people: we have no need of you. He turned away from them and came to Bakr ibn Wa’il: "of whom is the people?" "Of Bakr ibn Wa’il." "Of which Bakr ibn Wa’il?"
"Of Banu Qays ibn Tha’laba." He said: how is the number? They said: many, like the dust. He said: "and how the protection?" They said: no protection: we have Persian neighbors: we defend not against them: nor grant refuge against them. He said: "will you undertake for Allah upon yourselves, if He spares you, until you settle their dwelling places, and intermarry their women, and enslave their children: to glorify Allah thirty and three times, and thank Him thirty and three times, and magnify Him four and thirty times?" They said: and who are you? "I am the Messenger of Allah." Then he departed: and when he turned away from them, al-Kalbi said: and his uncle Abu Lahab would follow him, saying to the people: accept not his word. Then Abu Lahab passed by and they said: do you know this man? He said: yes: this one is at the summit of us: about what matter do you ask? So they informed him of what he called them to, and said: he claims he is the Messenger of Allah. He said: raise not his word at all: for he is a madman whose mother has lost her head. They said: we indeed saw that when he mentioned of the affair of Persia what he mentioned.
Al-Kalbi said: and Abd ar-Rahman al-Amiri informed me, from elders of his people: the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) came to us while we were at the market of ’Ukaz: "of whom is the people?" We said: of Banu Amir ibn Sa’sa’a. "Of which Banu Amir ibn Sa’sa’a?" "Banu Ka’b ibn Rabi’a." He said: "how the protection?" We said: what is behind us is not aimed at: nor is fire lit from ours. So he said to them: "I am the Messenger of Allah: and I have come to you that you protect me until I convey the message of my Lord: and I compel none of you to anything." They said: and of which Quraysh are you? "Of Banu Abd al-Muttalib." They said: and where are you relative to Abd Manaf? He said: "they are the first who belied me and drove me out." They said: but we drive you not out, nor believe in you: and we shall protect you until you convey the message of your Lord. So he alighted with them while the people shopped: when Bayhara ibn Firas al-Qushayri came to them: who is this man? Do you see in him anything blameworthy? They said: Muhammad ibn Abdallah the Qurayshi. He said: then what is between you and him? They said: he claims to us he is the Messenger of Allah: and asks of us that we protect him until he conveys the message of his Lord. He said: what have you answered him?
They said: with the wide and the spacious: you shall go out to our land: and we protect you as we protect ourselves. Bayhara said: I know no one of the people of this market who returns with something uglier than what you return with: you have begun to skirmish with the people: and the Arabs will shoot you from one bow: the man’s people know him better: had they found good in him they had been the most fortunate of people: do you resort to a captive of a people whom his people drove out and belied, and give him refuge and aid him?! Evil is the opinion you adopted. Then he turned upon the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him): rise and go to your people: for by Allah, were it not that you are with my people, I would strike your neck.
The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) rose to his she-camel and mounted it: and the wicked Bayhara pricked her two heels: and she plunged with the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) and cast him off. And with Banu Amir that day was Du’aba bint Amir ibn Qurt: she was among the women who accepted Islam with the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) in Mecca: come visiting her cousins: she said: O family of Amir, and may Amir bring me no joy: is this done to the Messenger of Allah between your backs, and none of you protects him? Three men of her cousins rose against Bayhara, and two aided him: each man of them took a man and beat him upon the ground: then sat upon his chest: then they struck their faces with slaps. The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said: "O Allah, bless these: and curse these." The three who aided him accepted Islam: and were slain martyrs: and they were Ghutayf and Ghatafan sons of Sahl, and ’Urwa, or ’Azra, ibn Abdallah ibn Salama (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him): and the others perished cursed: and they were Bayhara ibn Firas, and Hazn ibn Abdallah ibn Salama ibn Qushayr, and Mu’awiya ibn ’Ubada, one of Banu ’Aqil: Allah cursed them with a great curse. And this is a strange account which we wrote for its strangeness: and Allah knows best. And this hadith, the hafiz Sa’id ibn Yahya ibn Sa’id al-Umawi reported in full in his Maghazi, from his father.
And Abu Nu’aym reported a witness of it, from the hadith of Ka’b ibn Malik (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him), in the account of Banu Amir ibn Sa’sa’a: and the ugliness of their answer to him. And stranger than that and longer is what Abu Nu’aym, al-Hakim and al-Bayhaqi reported: the account is of Abu Nu’aym (peace be upon him), from the hadith of Abban ibn Abdallah al-Bajali, from Abban ibn Taghlib, from Ikrima, from Ibn Abbas: Ali ibn Abi Talib told me: when Allah commanded His Messenger to offer himself to the tribes of the Arabs, he went out, and I with him and Abu Bakr, to Mina, until we came upon a council of the councils of the Arabs: and Abu Bakr advanced and greeted: and Abu Bakr was foremost in every good: and he was a man of genealogy: he said: of whom is the people? They said: of Rabia. And which Rabia are you? Of her great summit, or of her low vales? They said: rather of her great summit. Abu Bakr said: and which of her great summit? They said: Dhu l-Akbar. Abu Bakr said to them: is among you Awf, who was called: no freeman in the valleys of Awf? They said: no. Is among you Bastam ibn Qays ibn Mas’ud, father of the banner and term of the tribes? They said: no.
Is among you al-Hawfazan ibn Sharik, slayer of the kings and despoiler of her selves? They said: no. Is among you Jassas ibn Murra ibn Dhuhl, guardian of the covenant and defender of the neighbor? They said: no. Is among you al-Muzdalif, wearer of the single turban? They said: no. Then are you the maternal uncles of the kings of Kinda? They said: no. Then are you the brothers-in-law of the kings of Lakhm? They said: no. Abu Bakr (peace be upon him) said to them: you are not then Dhu l-Akbar: rather you are Dhu l-Asghar. There leapt at him a youth of them called Daghfal ibn Handhala adh-Dhuhli, when his face reddened: he took the halter of Abu Bakr’s she-camel, saying:
Upon our questioner it is that we question him: and the burden-beast, you know it not: or you carry it.
You there: you asked us and we informed you, concealing nothing: and we wish to ask you: who are you? He said: a man of Quraysh. The youth said: well done, well done, people of loftiness and leadership, of the firm ties of the Arabs and their guides: of whom of Quraysh are you? He said to him: a man of Banu Taym ibn Murra. The youth said to him: have you, by Allah, managed the shooting from the middle of the cleft? Is it of you QuSayy ibn Kilab, who slew in Mecca those who had overcome it, and exiled their remnant, and gathered his people from every hollow until he settled them in Mecca, then took hold of the house, and seated Quraysh in its seats: so the Arabs named him therefor the Gatherer: and thereon says the poet to the sons of Abd Manaf:
Is not your father he who was called the Gatherer: by him Allah gathered the tribes of Fihr?
Abu Bakr said: no. He said: is it of you Abd Manaf, to whom the bequests came: father of the manes of the lords? Abu Bakr said: no. He said: is it of you Amr ibn Abd Manaf, Hashim, who crumbled the crumbs of the broth for his people and the people of Mecca: and thereon says the poet:
Amr the lofty crumbled the crumbs of broth for his people: and the men of Mecca gaunt and thin,
The two journeys were turned to him, both: at winter: and the summer journey,
Quraysh was an egg, then it cracked: and the pure white was for Abd Manaf:
The ones living in plenty, and none was known a plenteous one: and the sayers: come to the guests:
And the strikers of the ram whose egg whitens: and the withholders of the egg with the swords:
To Allah, would you but dwell in their house: they would bar you from neglect and from want.
Abu Bakr said: no. He said: is it of you Abd al-Muttalib, the gray of praise: lord of the caravan of Mecca: feeder of the birds of the sky and the wild beasts and the predators in the open, whose face is as a moon gleaming in the dark night? He said: no. Are you then of the people of the outpouring? He said: no. Are you then of the people of the veil? He said: no. Are you then of the people of the council? He said: no. Are you then of the people of the watering? He said: no. Are you then of the people of the guests’ provision? He said: no. Are you then of those overflowing upon the people? He said: no. Then Abu Bakr (peace be upon him) drew the halter of his she-camel from his hand: and the youth said to him:
There met the dam of the flood a dam repelling it: at times it surges it: and at times it splits it.
Then he said: by Allah, O brother of Quraysh: had you stood firm I would have told you that you are of the dregs of Quraysh: and not of the springs. The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) came toward us smiling. Ali said: I said to him: O Abu Bakr, from the Arab you have received a full blow. He said: yes, O Abu l-Hasan: there is no flood but above it is a flood: and the trial is commissioned to speech.
Then we came upon a council bearing serenity and gravity: elders of authority and bearing: and Abu Bakr advanced and greeted: and Ali said: Abu Bakr was foremost in every good: and Abu Bakr said to them: of whom is the people? They said: we are Banu Shayban ibn Tha’laba. He turned to the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him): may my father and mother be your ransom: after these there is no honor in their people: and in a version: behind these there are no choicest of their people: and these are the choicest of men. And in the people were Mafruq ibn Amr, and Hani’ ibn Qabisa, and al-Muthanna ibn Haritha, and an-Nu’man ibn Sharik: and the nearest of the people to Abu Bakr was Mafruq ibn Amr: and Mafruq ibn Amr had prevailed over them in speech and tongue: and he had two temples falling upon his chest: and he was the nearest of the people in session to Abu Bakr: Abu Bakr said to him: how the number among you? He said: we exceed a thousand: and a thousand are not overcome by fewness. He said to him: and how the protection among you? He said: upon us is the striving: and every people has its zeal. Abu Bakr said: and how the war between you and your enemy?
Mafruq said: we are hardest in anger when we meet: and hardest in meeting when we anger: we prefer the steeds to the children: and the weapons to the spindles: and the victory is from Allah: He delivers us a time: and delivers over us a time. Perhaps you are a brother of Quraysh? Abu Bakr said: if it has reached you that he is the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him): there he is. Mafruq said: it has reached us that he mentions that. Then he turned to the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) and said: toward what do you call, O brother of Quraysh?
The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) advanced and sat: and Abu Bakr rose shading him with his garment: he said (peace be upon him): "I call you to the testimony that there is no god but Allah alone without partner: and that I am the Messenger of Allah: and that you give me refuge: and protect me: and aid me until I deliver for Allah what He commanded me: for Quraysh have conspired against the affair of Allah and belied His messenger: and have been content with falsehood against the truth: and Allah, He is the Rich, the Praiseworthy." He said to him: and toward what do you call also, O brother of Quraysh? The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) recited: "Say: Come, I shall recite what your Lord has forbidden you: that you associate nothing with Him; and kindness to parents. Kill not your children for poverty. We provide for you and for them. Approach not indecencies, open or hidden. Kill not the life Allah made sacred, save justly. That He enjoined upon you; perhaps you will understand", the verse of al-An’am. Mafruq said to him: and toward what do you call also, O brother of Quraysh?
By Allah this is not of the speech of the people of the earth: and were it of their speech we would know it. The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) recited: "Certes, Allah commands justice, beneficence and giving to kin. And He forbids indecency, wrong and rebellion. He exhorts you, that you may take heed", the ninetieth verse of an-Nahl. Mafruq said to him: you have called, by Allah O Qurayshi, to noble manners and beautiful deeds: and a people have lied: they belied you and conspired against you: and as if he loved that Hani’ ibn Qabisa share in the speech, he said: and this Hani’ ibn Qabisa is our elder and keeper of our religion.
Hani’ said to him: I have heard your speech, O brother of Quraysh, and confirmed your word: and I see that our leaving our religion and following you upon your religion, for a council you have held before us having neither first nor last, while we have not deliberated your affair nor looked at the issue of what you call to: is a slip of opinion, a stampede of reason, and little looking at the issue: and the slip comes only with haste: and behind us is a people we loathe to tie a knot upon: but you return, and we return: and you look, and we look: and as if he loved that al-Muthanna ibn Haritha share in the speech, he said: and this al-Muthanna is our elder and keeper of our war. Al-Muthanna said: I have heard your speech, and found your word good, O brother of Quraysh, and marveled at what you said: and the answer is the answer of Hani’ ibn Qabisa: our leaving our religion and following you for a council you held before us: and we alight only between two dams: one of them al-Yamama, and the other as-Samawa. The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said to him: "and what are these two dams?"
He said: as for one of them, the open lands of the desert and the land of the Arabs: and as for the other, the land of Persia and the rivers of Chosroes: and we alight only upon a covenant Chosroes took upon us: that we start no novelty and give no refuge to a innovator: and perhaps this affair you call to is of what the kings loathe: as for what adjoins the lands of the Arabs, the sin of its doer is forgiven and his excuse accepted: and as for what adjoins the lands of Persia, the sin of its doer is not forgiven and his excuse not accepted: so if you wish that we aid you and protect you from what adjoins the Arabs, we did. The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said: you answered not ill when you spoke the truth: none undertakes the religion of Allah but he who surrounds it from all its sides.
Then the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said: "what think you: if you lingered but a little until Allah grants you their land and their wealth: and beds for you their daughters: would you glorify Allah and sanctify Him?" An-Nu’man ibn Sharik said to him: O Allah, that indeed is for you, O brother of Quraysh. The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) recited: "O Prophet! We sent you [to be] witness, bearer of glad tidings, and warner, calling (the people) to Allah, by His permission; and as a lamp giving light", the verses of al-Ahzab, from the forty-fifth to the forty-sixth. Then the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) rose, clasping the hands of Abu Bakr. Ali said: then the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) turned to us: "O Ali, what manners had the Arabs in the Jahiliyya, how noble they were! By them they secure themselves among themselves in the life of this world." He said: then we came upon the council of the Aus and the Khazraj: and we rose not until they had pledged the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him).
Ali said: and they were truthful, patient: and the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) rejoiced at what he saw of Abu Bakr’s (peace be upon him) knowledge of their lineages. He said: the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) lingered but a little until he went out to his companions: "call upon your brothers of Rabia: the sons of Persia have this day surrounded them." Then he entered his house: and the Messenger of Allah lingered but a little until he went out to his companions: "thank Allah much: the sons of Rabia have today vanquished the people of Persia: they slew their kings: and seized their camp as spoil: and by me was aid granted."
He said: the battle was at Quraqir, beside Dhu Qar: and thereon says al-A’sha:
May my she-camel be ransom for Banu Dhu l ibn Shayban: and her rider, at the meeting, when she weakened,
They are they who struck with the lance the lance of Quraqir: at the vanguard of the battlefield until it wheeled away,
To Allah the eyes of him who saw of horsemen: the like of Dhu l ibn Shayban when she turned,
They rose, and we rose, and the affection between us: and upon us was a drowning that became manifest.
And this hadith is very strange: we wrote it for what it contains of proofs of prophethood, beauties of manners, nobilities of character, and eloquence of the Arabs: and it came by another chain: therein: that when they warred, they and Persia, and met at Quraqir, a place near the Euphrates: they made their watchword the name of Muhammad (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him): and were aided over Persia thereby: and they entered afterward into Islam.
And al-Waqidi said: Abdallah ibn Waqsa al-’Absi informed us, from his father, from his grandfather: the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) came to us in our halting places at Mina: we encamped facing the first Jamra adjoining the mosque of al-Khayf: and he was upon his mount, with Zayd ibn Haritha behind him: and he called us: and by Allah we answered him not: and no good was ours. We had heard of him and his call at the seasons: he stood upon us calling: and we answered him not: and with us was Mayssara ibn Masruq al-’Absi: he said to us: I swear by Allah, had we confirmed this man and carried him until we alighted with him in the midst of our land, that had been the opinion: and I swear by Allah his affair will surely prevail until it reaches every reach. The people said: leave us: expose us not to what we have no inclination toward. And the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) hoped in Mayssara and spoke to him: Mayssara said: how good your speech is, and how illuminating: but my people oppose me: and the man is with his people: and if they aid him not, the foes are farther. The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) turned away: and the people went out departing to their families: Mayssara said to them: bend with us to Fadak: for in it are Jews: we shall ask them of this man.
So they bent to the Jews: and they brought out for them a scroll: laid it down: then erased the mention of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) the unlettered Arabian prophet: he rides the donkey and is content with the kasra: neither tall nor short: neither curly nor straight: in his two eyes a redness: bright of hue: if it is he who calls you, answer him: and enter his religion: for we envy him and follow him not: and from him in your lands will be a great trial: and none of the Arabs will remain but he follows him: or fights him: so be of those who follow him. Mayssara said: O people, this affair is plain. The people said: we return to the season and meet him. They returned to their land: and their men refused that: and none of them followed him. And when the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) came to Medina as an emigrant: and made the farewell pilgrimage: Mayssara met him and knew him: and said: O Messenger of Allah, by Allah I never ceased eager to follow you from the day you dismounted among us until it came to pass as it came: and Allah willed not but what you see of the lateness of my Islam: and most of the party who were with me have died: where then is their entrance, O Messenger of Allah? The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said: "whoever dies upon other than the religion of Islam is in the Fire." He said: praise to Allah who delivered me: so he accepted Islam, and his Islam was beautiful: and he had with Abu Bakr a place.
And Imam Muhammad ibn Umar al-Waqidi sought out in detail the accounts of the tribes one by one: and mentioned his offering (peace be upon him) of his self to Banu Amir, and Ghassan, and Banu Fazarah, and Banu Murra, and Banu Hanifa, and Banu Sulaym, and Banu ’Abs, and Banu Nadhr ibn Hawazin, and Banu Tha’laba ibn ’Uqaba, and Kinda, and Kalb, and Banu al-Harith ibn Ka’b, and Banu ’Udhra, and Qays ibn al-Khatim, and others: and their accounts are long: and we have related of that a sufficient part: to Allah are praise and favor.
And Imam Ahmad said: Aswad ibn Amir told us: I am Isra’il, from Uthman, meaning Ibn al-Mughira, from Salim ibn Abi al-Ja’d, from Jabir ibn Abdallah: the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) used to offer himself to the people at the standing place, saying: "is there a man who carries me to his people: for Quraysh have prevented me from conveying the word of my Lord (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him)?" A man of Hamdan came to him: "of whom are you?" The man said: of Hamdan. He said: "is there with your people any protection?" He said: yes. Then the man feared his people would slight him: he came to the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) and said: go to them: I shall inform them: then come to you of the following year. He said: "yes." So he departed: and the delegation of the Ansar came in Rajab. The people of the four Sunan reported it, through chains from Isra’il: and at-Tirmidhi said: good and authentic.