crouching behind it, shielding himself from the people.

Al-Hasan ibn Bishr al-Bajali said: al-Hakam ibn ʿAbd al-Malik—whom al-Nasaʾi deemed weak—narrated to us from Qatadah, from Anas, who said: When the Messenger of Allah ﷺ called for the Pledge of ar-Riḍwan, ʿUthman was the Prophet’s envoy to Mecca. The people gave their pledge, whereupon the Messenger of Allah ﷺ declared, “ʿUthman is busy with a mission on behalf of Allah and His Messenger.” He then struck one of his own hands against the other, and the hand of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ on behalf of ʿUthman was better for him than their own hands were for themselves.

Ibn ʿUyaynah said: Abu al-Zubayr narrated to us; he heard Jabir say: When the Messenger of Allah ﷺ summoned the people to pledge, we found among us a man called al-Jadd ibn Qays hiding beneath the armpit of a camel. Muslim transmitted this through the chain of Ibn Jurayj from Abu al-Zubayr, and in that narration he said, “We did not pledge to the Prophet ﷺ to fight to the death; rather, we pledged that we would not flee.”

Muslim also recorded it from Ibn Abi Shaybah, from Ibn ʿUyaynah, and through the chain of al-Layth from Abu al-Zubayr, with the wording: “So we pledged to him while ʿUmar—may Allah be pleased with him—was holding his hand beneath the tree, which was an acacia.”

Khalid al-Hadhdhaʾ related from al-Hakam ibn ʿAbd Allah al-Aʿraj, from Maʿqil ibn Yasar, who said: On the Day of the Tree I saw myself standing while the Prophet ﷺ was taking the pledge from the people, and I was lifting one of its branches away from above his head. We were fourteen hundred in number. We did not pledge to fight to the death, but we pledged that we would not run away. Muslim narrated this report.

Ibn ʿUyaynah also said: Ibn Abi Khalid told us, from al-Shaʿbi, who said: When the Prophet ﷺ called the people to pledge, the first to reach him was Abu Sinan al-Asadi.