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The breaking of Quraysh’s scroll: Hisham ibn Amr feeding the Banu Hashim, the plot of the five breakers, the termite that spared Allah’s name, Abu Talib’s poem and the valley’s exit in the tenth year, from Ibn Ishaq, Ibn Hisham and as-Souhayli.
Updated on 07 September 2026 at 11:07 PM
Ibn Ishaq said: they, the Banu Hashim and the Banu al-Muttalib, remained in their place wherein Quraysh had leagued against them, in the scroll they wrote. Then there rose to break the scroll men of Quraysh, and none did better in it than Hisham ibn Amr ibn Rabia ibn al-Harith ibn Habib ibn Nasr ibn Jouzayma ibn Malik ibn Hisl ibn Amir ibn Lou’ayy: he was the maternal nephew of Nadla ibn Hashim ibn Abd Manat, maintained ties with the Banu Hashim and held honor among his people. As it reached me, he would bring a camel loaded with food, by night, while the Banu Hashim and the Banu al-Muttalib were in the valley: he would loosen its halter from its head, strike its flanks, and it entered the valley toward them. Then he would bring one loaded with grain, and do the same.
He then walked to Zouhayr ibn Abi Umayya ibn al-Mughira, whose mother was Atika bint Abd al-Muttalib, and said: “O Zouhayr, are you content to eat the food and wear the garments, while your cousins, you know, neither sell nor are bought, neither marry nor are married to?” I swear by Allah: had they been the uncles of Abu al-Hakam ibn Hisham, and you called him to that from them, never would he have answered you.” Zouhayr said: “Woe to you, O Hisham! What to do? I am one man: by Allah, were there with me another man, I would rise to break it.” He said: “You have found a man.” : “Who?” : “I.” Zouhayr said: “Seek us a third.” Hisham went to al-Mout’im ibn Adi and said: “O Mut’im, are you content that two clans of the Banu Abd Manat perish, you witnessing it, in accord with Quraysh?! By Allah, if you leave them to it, you will find them swift toward it from you.” He said: “Woe to you! What to do? I am one man.” : “You have found a second.” : “Who?” : “I.” : “Seek us a third.” : “Done.” : “Who?” : “Zouhayr ibn Abi Umayya.” : “Seek us a fourth.” Hisham went to Abu al-Bakhtari ibn Hisham and spoke to him like what he said to al-Mout’im ibn Adi. He said: “Do you find anyone who aids this?” : “Yes.” : “Who?” : “Zouhayr ibn Abi Umayya and al-Mout’im ibn Adi, and I with you.” : “Seek us a fifth.” Hisham went to Zam’a ibn al-Aswad ibn al-Muttalib ibn Asad, spoke to him of their kinship and right, and he said: “Are there others upon this matter to which you call me?” : “Yes,” and he named the people.
They appointed a meeting at Khatm al-Hajoun, by night, in the upper part of Mecca: they gathered there, settled their affair and pledged to stand for the scroll until breaking it. Zouhayr said: “I shall begin: I shall be the first to speak.” In the morning they went to their assemblies; Zouhayr ibn Abi Umayya, clothed in a garment, circled the House seven times, then addressed the people: “O people of Mecca, we eat the food and wear the garments, while the Banu Hashim perish: they neither buy nor are bought? By Allah, I shall not sit until this unjust, severing scroll is torn.” Abu Jahl, who was at the mosque’s edge, said: “You lie: by Allah, it shall not be torn.” Zam’a ibn al-Aswad said: “You are, by Allah, more of a liar than he: we never approved its writing where it was written.” Abu al-Bakhtari said: “Zam’a has spoken truly: we approve not what was written therein, nor subscribe to it.” al-Mout’im ibn Adi said: “You both spoke truly, and lied whoever says otherwise: we dissociate before Allah from it and from what was written therein.” Hisham ibn Amr said the like. Abu Jahl said: “Here is an affair judged by night, consulted in another place.” Abu Talib sat at the mosque’s edge; al-Mout’im ibn Adi rose toward the scroll to tear it: he found the termite had eaten it, except “In Thy name, O Allah”. And the scroll’s scribe was Mansour ibn Ikrima, whose hand was, it is claimed, paralyzed.
Ibn Hisham said: some men of knowledge mentioned that the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said to Abu Talib: “O my uncle, Allah has unleashed the termite upon Quraysh’s scroll: it left therein no name belonging to Allah but it preserved it, and it rejected the injustice, the severing of ties and the slander.” Abu Talib said: “Has your Lord informed you of this?” He said: “Yes.” He said: “By Allah, none shall enter upon you.” Then he went out to Quraysh and said: “O assembly of Quraysh! My nephew has informed me of such and such: bring your scroll; if it is as he said, cease the severing of our ties and leave it; if he is a liar, I shall surrender my nephew to you.” The people said: “We accept.” They agreed upon it, looked, and behold, it was as the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) had said: that only increased their evil, and at that moment the group of Quraysh proceeded to the scroll’s breaking as they did.
Ibn Ishaq said: when the scroll was torn and what was written therein annulled, Abu Talib said, of those people who had risen to break it, praising them:
“Behold, to our two seas has come our Lord’s act, … far from them: Allah toys with men ;”
“He announces to them that the scroll was torn, … and that all Allah approves not is corrupted ;”
“They toss it back as falsehood and heaped sorcery, … and no other sorcery over the ages climbs so high ;”
“One after another rushed to it those not named therein : … its bird circles and returns above its head ;”
“It struck by night, aiming at nobles, … that arm and wrist-ring be cut off from it ;”
“And that the people of the two Meccs panic and flee, … their foreheads trembling for fear of evil ;”
“And that a plowman tending his affairs be forsaken there : … would he be accused ? And they rush to aid ;”
“And that between the two rocks rises a hill … armed with arrows, bow and lair ;”
“Which then of Mecca’s notables will find therein honor ? … Our honor, within Mecca, is the most abundant ;”
“There we were born, the people few therein : … we never ceased growing better and being praised ;”
“And we feed until people leave their surplus, … when the hands of the generous tremble ;”
“May Allah reward the group who, at the Hajoun, followed … one after another, a counsel leading to resolve and guiding ;”
“Seated by Khatm al-Hajoun, as if they were … conversers : rather they are the noblest and most glorious ;”
“Each aiding it like a falcon which, … walking amid the coat of mail, is the keenest ;”
“Bold before the hardest questions, like a … meteor upon the palms of Qabis, kindling ;”
“Of the most generous sons of Lou’ayy ibn Ghalib : … when one sees his face, it is serene and glad ;”
“Long of the spear, his arm out of the sleeve : … upon his face the cloud rains and brings happiness ;”
“Great of the ashes, a master and son of a master : … who urges the watering-place of guests and gathers ;”
“And who builds for the clan’s sons a virtuous home … when we journey through the lands, and who prepares ;”
“Let this peace be clasped by every freed man … of the great banner, whose order is praised ;”
“They judged what they judged in their night, … then rose with measure, the other folk dozing ;”
“They returned to the easy, accepted pact : … Abu Bakr rejoiced at it, and Mohamed ;”
“When the peoples were associated with the bulk of our affair, … while of old we loved one another before it ;”
“And of old we approved no injustice, … and we reached what we willed without excess ;”
“Ah, Qusayy ! Have you, in your souls, aught ? … And have you share in what tomorrow brings ?”
“I and you are as the poet said : … the explanation lies with you, had you spoken, O Aswad.”
as-Souhayli says: “Aswad” is the name of a mountain wherein a slain man was killed, his killer unknown; the slain man’s guardians said: “the explanation lies with you, had you spoken, O Aswad,” that is: O Aswad, had you spoken, you would have shown us his killer. Ibn Ishaq then mentioned verses of Hassan praising al-Mout’im ibn Adi and Hisham ibn Amr for standing to the breaking of the unjust, corrupt, devouring scroll. al-Umawi mentioned here many poems: we suffice with what Ibn Ishaq cited.
al-Waqidi said: I asked Muhammad ibn Salih and Abd ar-Rahman ibn Abd al-Aziz: when did the Banu Hashim leave the valley? They said: the tenth year, that is, of the mission, three years before the Hijra. Ibn Kathir concludes: in this same year, after their exit, died Abu Talib, the uncle of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him), and his wife Khadija bint Khuwaylid (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him), as the explanation will come, Allah willing.