he declared, “By Allah, he is the Messenger of Allah whom Jesus and Moses promised us.”

Caesar asked, “What do you advise, then?”

He replied, “I think we should follow him.”

Caesar said, “I understand what you are saying, but I cannot follow him: my kingdom would be lost and the Romans would kill me.” ⦗1⦘

This report is preserved through two transmitters, both of them narrating from Yaḥyā ibn Salamah, from his father.

ʿAbd Allah ibn Abī Yaḥyā—on the authority of Mujāhid—stated: “The Messenger of Allah dispatched Dihyah on a lone detachment.” ⦗2⦘

Muʿtamir ibn Sulaymān—through his father, from Abū ʿUthmān al-Nahdī—reported:

Umm Salamah said, “The Prophet ﷺ was speaking with a man. When the man left, he asked, ‘O Umm Salamah, who was that?’

“I answered, ‘Dihyah al-Kalbī.’ I did not realize it was Gabriel until I later heard the Messenger of Allah ﷺ inform his Companions of what had passed between us.

“I then asked Abū ʿUthmān, ‘Who told you this?’ He replied, ‘Usāmah.’” ⦗3⦘

ʿUfayr ibn Maʿdān—on the authority of Qatādah, from Anas—narrated that the Prophet ﷺ used to say, “Gabriel comes to me in the form of Dihyah, and Dihyah was a handsome man.” ⦗4⦘