it will never reach him.” ʿUrwah retorted, “Woe to you—how rough and harsh you are!” The Messenger of Allah ﷺ merely smiled. ʿUrwah then asked, “Who is this man, O Muhammad?” He replied, “This is your nephew al-Mughīrah ibn Shuʿbah.” ʿUrwah exclaimed, “You treacherous fellow! Was it not only yesterday that I wiped away your disgrace?”

Ibn Hishām remarks: By this, ʿUrwah meant that before al-Mughīrah embraced Islam he had killed thirteen men of the clan Banū Mālik ibn Thaqīf. Both branches of Thaqīf were stirred to arms—the clan of the slain on one side, and al-Aḥlāf, the clan of al-Mughīrah, on the other—so ʿUrwah paid the full blood money for the thirteen victims and reconciled the matter.

Ibn Lahīʿah said: Abū al-Aswad narrated to us that ʿUrwah said: Quraysh left Mecca and reached Baldah and its water before the Prophet ﷺ, taking control of it. When the Messenger of Allah ﷺ realized they had arrived first, he encamped at al-Hudaybiya. It was intensely hot and the site had only a single well. The people were many and feared severe thirst. Some men climbed down into the well, straining to draw up what little water remained. The Messenger of Allah ﷺ then called for a bucket of water, performed ablution in it, rinsed his mouth and spat the rinse back into the bucket, and ordered that it be poured into the well. He next drew an arrow from his quiver, cast it into the well, and prayed to Allah. Water surged up until the Companions, while seated on its rim, were scooping it up with their bare hands. The Prophet ﷺ had in fact taken a route different from the one on which he had been told Quraysh were travelling.

Ibn Isḥāq said: ʿAbd Allah ibn Abī Bakr told me that a man from the Aslam tribe said: The Messenger of Allah ﷺ came to us and led them along a rugged, slippery path, harder to traverse than the other ravines. When they finally made their way through it—after it had greatly taxed the Muslims—they emerged into the open