for on the Day of Resurrection he will be raised as a nation all by himself.’

Yunus ibn Bukayr relates from Ibn Ishaq: When the Quraysh rebuilt the Kaʿbah, they would come every year to provide it with a new covering in veneration of its sanctity. They performed tawaf around it, sought Allah’s forgiveness in its courtyard, and mentioned Him—yet all the while they were exalting their idols and steeped in polytheism in the animals they sacrificed and in every part of their religion.

A group of Quraysh—Zayd ibn ʿAmr ibn Nufayl, Waraqah ibn Nawfal, ʿUthman ibn al-Huwayrith ibn Asad (a cousin of Waraqah), and ʿUbaydallah ibn Jahsh ibn Riʿab, whose mother was Ummaymah bint ʿAbd al-Muṭṭalib ibn Hashim—once attended a festival at one of the tribe’s idols where sacrifices were being offered. When they found themselves together, they withdrew from the crowd and said to one another, ‘Let us speak candidly and keep each other’s confidence.’ One of them declared, ‘By Allah, our people are upon nothing. They have missed the religion of Abraham and opposed it. An idol that is worshipped can neither harm nor benefit. Seek the truth for yourselves.’

They therefore set out, travelling through the lands in search of the People of the Book—Jews, Christians, and the followers of other creeds—pursuing the ḥanīfiyyah (the pure monotheistic faith) of Abraham. Waraqah eventually embraced Christianity. Among them none was more upright than Zayd ibn ʿAmr: he kept away from idols and abandoned every religion except the religion of Abraham.

Al-Baghandī reported: Abu Saʿid al-Ashaj told us; Abu Muʿāwiyah narrated from Hisham, from his father, from ʿĀʾishah, who said that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ stated, ‘I entered Paradise and saw two great trees there for Zayd ibn ʿAmr ibn Nufayl.’

Al-Bakkāʾī, transmitting from Ibn Ishaq, said: Hisham related to me from his father, from Asmāʾ bint Abi Bakr, who said, ‘I once saw Zayd ibn ʿAmr ibn Nufayl as a very elderly man.’