on this journey something—I do not know exactly what it is—so come with me to the Messenger of Allah ﷺ and let us ask him about what I have done.”

We did not yet recognize the Messenger of Allah by sight, so we went out looking for him. At al-Abṭaḥ we met a man and asked him. He said, “Do the two of you know him?” We answered, “No.” He asked, “Do you know al-ʿAbbās?” We replied, “Yes,” for al-ʿAbbās used to visit us for trade, and we knew him. He said, “He is the man now sitting with him in the mosque.”

We came to the two of them, greeted them, and sat down. We then put our question to al-ʿAbbās. The Messenger of Allah (1) ﷺ said, “Who are these two men, uncle?” He replied, “This is al-Barāʾ ibn Maʿrūr, the chief of his people, and this is Kaʿb ibn Mālik.” The Messenger of Allah ﷺ said, “The poet?”

Al-Barāʾ said, “O Messenger of Allah, by Allah, I have done such-and-such.” He answered, “You were already upon a qibla; had you but remained patient with it.”

So al-Barāʾ returned to his former qibla.

After that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ appointed for us the night in the middle of al-ʿAqaba… and he related the whole incident in full (2).

Yaḥyā ibn ʿAbd Allāh ibn Abī Qatāda narrated from his mother, from his father, that al-Barāʾ ibn Maʿrūr bequeathed one-third of his estate to the Prophet ﷺ, one-third for the cause of Allah, and one-third for his children. When this was mentioned to the Prophet ﷺ, he returned that share to the heirs.

When the Prophet ﷺ arrived in Madinah, al-Barāʾ had already died. He asked about his grave, went to it, arranged the people in rows, and pronounced the takbir. Then he said, “O Allah, forgive him, have mercy on him, and admit him into Paradise—and You have done so (3).”

On the night of al-ʿAqaba al-Barāʾ was the most distinguished (4) of the seventy, and he was the first of them to pledge allegiance to the Messenger of Allah ﷺ.