then he milked again and gave the shepherd a drink; after that he milked once more and drank himself. The shepherd said, “By Allah, who are you? I have never seen anyone like you.” He replied, “Will you keep it to yourself if I tell you?” The man said, “Yes.” He said, “I am Muḥammad, the Messenger of Allah.”

The shepherd asked, “Are you the one Quraysh claims is a ṣābiʾ (renegade)?” He answered, “That is what they say.” The man declared, “I testify that you are a prophet, that what you have brought is the truth, and that no one could do what you have just done except a prophet. I will follow you.” He said, “You will not be able to do that today, but when you hear that I have gained ascendancy, then come to us.”

Yūnus ibn Bukayr, quoting Ibn Isḥāq, related: Muḥammad ibn Jaʿfar ibn al-Zubayr told me, from ʿUrwah ibn al-Zubayr, from ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn ʿUwain ibn Sāʿidah, from men of his clan, who said:

“When news reached us that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ had left Mecca, we would go out every morning and wait for him on the edge of the ḥarrah (volcanic plain). We would sit in the shade of the walls until the sun’s heat drove us away, and then we would return home. We kept this up until the day the Messenger of Allah ﷺ actually arrived. That morning we sat as usual; when we had started back, the Messenger of Allah ﷺ came. A Jewish man saw him and cried out, ‘O sons of Qaylah, your great one has come!’ We rushed out, and the Messenger of Allah ﷺ had halted in the shade with Abū Bakr. By Allah, we could not tell which of them was older—they seemed the same in age—until we saw Abū Bakr step aside so that the shade would fall upon him (the Prophet). By that we recognized the Messenger of Allah ﷺ. Someone among us also said, ‘Abū Bakr rose and shaded the Messenger of Allah ﷺ with his cloak,’ and thus we knew him.”

Muḥammad ibn Ḥumayr narrated from Ibrāhīm ibn Abī ʿAblah, who said: ʿUqbah ibn Wisāj told me, from Anas ibn Mālik, that when the Prophet ﷺ arrived—meaning in Medina—no one among his Companions had more grey hairs than Abū Bakr, and he had dyed them with henna and katam. Al-Bukhārī recorded this report through the chain of Muḥammad ibn Ḥumayr.