they rushed up to him and said, “You may have overpowered us with regard to your own self, but this woman—why should we let you carry her off across the land?” They snatched the camel’s halter from his hand and pulled me away from him. Abu Salamah’s kinsmen grew angry and said, “By Allah, we shall not leave our boy with her now that you have torn her from our man.”

They tugged at my son Salamah until they wrenched his arm from its socket; the men of Banū ʿAbd al-Asad carried him off, while the men of Banū al-Mughīrah kept me with them. My husband went on his way, and thus we were separated. Every morning I would go out to al-Abṭaḥ, sit there, and weep until nightfall, and I did so for a year or close to it.

One day a cousin of mine passed by, felt pity for me, and said to them, “Will you not fear Allah concerning this poor woman? You have separated her from her child.” They replied, “Go and join your husband.” At that Banū ʿAbd al-Asad returned my son to me. I saddled my camel, placed Salamah in my lap, and set out for my husband in Medina with none of Allah’s creatures to accompany me. I said to myself, “I shall make do with whoever turns up along the road until I reach my husband.”

When I reached Tanʿīm I met ʿUthmān ibn Ṭalḥah al-ʿAbdarī. He asked, “Where are you bound, daughter of Abū Umayyah?” I answered, “To my husband in Medina.” He said, “Is no one with you?” I replied, “No, by Allah—only Allah and this son of mine.” He said, “By Allah, I will not leave you to travel alone.”

He took the camel’s halter and set off with me at a brisk pace. By Allah, I have never travelled with any Arab man whom I considered nobler than he. Whenever we reached a halt he would make the camel kneel, withdraw from me, and, once I had dismounted, he would bring the camel forward, unload it, tether it to a tree, and then go off to another tree and lie beneath it. When the time came to move on he would saddle the camel, withdraw, and say, “Mount.” When I had mounted and was seated securely, he would come, take the halter, and lead me to the next stopping place. He continued in this manner until he brought me to Medina. When he saw the settlement of Banū ʿAmr ibn ʿAwf at Qubāʾ he said, “Your husband is in this village,” and then he turned back and went home.

After Abū Salamah, the first to arrive there was ʿĀmir ibn Rabīʿah, the confederate of Banū ʿAdī ibn Kaʿb, together with his wife; after him came ʿAbd Allāh ibn Jahsh, the confederate of Banū Umayyah, together with