and the tribes of Aslam, Juhaynah, and other groups also embraced Islam, so that their number reached about three hundred fighting men, all of them Muslims. Quraysh then sent word to the Messenger of Allah ﷺ, asking him to dispatch a message to Abū Baṣīr and those with him, summoning them to come to him, and they added: “Anyone of ours who leaves for you, restrain him.”

It so happened that Abū al-ʿĀṣ ibn al-Rabīʿ passed by Abū Baṣīr on his way back from Syria, whereupon they seized him. Nevertheless, he slipped away and reached his wife Zaynab in secret; his story has already been noted.

The Messenger of Allah ﷺ sent a letter to Abū Baṣīr instructing them not to intercept anyone. The letter reached Abū Jandal and Abū Baṣīr while Abū Baṣīr was breathing his last; he died with the Prophet’s letter in his hand, reading it. Abū Jandal buried him on the spot and designated a place of prayer at his grave.

Yahyā ibn Abī Kathīr reported: Abū Salamah told me that Abū Hurayrah related that when the Prophet ﷺ performed the late evening prayer (ʿIshāʾ), he would stand in the final rakʿah, and after saying, “Allah hears the one who praises Him,” he would supplicate: “O Allah, deliver al-Walīd ibn al-Walīd; O Allah, deliver Salamah ibn Hishām; O Allah, deliver ʿAyyāsh ibn Abī Rabīʿah; O Allah, deliver the oppressed believers. O Allah, tighten Your grip upon Muḍar; O Allah, make it years of drought like the years of Joseph.” He continued making this supplication until Allah—exalted is He—delivered them, after which he ceased praying for them in that manner.

Events of the sixth year AH:
• Saʿd ibn Khawlah died in captivity at Mecca, and the Prophet ﷺ grieved for him because his death occurred there.
• In the same year, Hishām ibn Ṣabābah, the brother of Miqīs, was killed by a Muslim who mistook him for an unbeliever. The Prophet ﷺ paid Miqīs the blood-money, but Miqīs later murdered his brother’s killer, apostatized, and fled to Mecca.