—he was referring to Khalid ibn al-Walid and me. He hurried off toward the mosque, and I assumed he had gone to inform the Prophet ﷺ of our arrival; events proved me right. We halted at al-Harrah, changed into our best clothes, and when the call for the ʿAsr prayer was made we set out until we reached him. His face shone with delight, and the Muslims around him were gladdened by our acceptance of Islam.

Khalid stepped forward and pledged allegiance, followed by ʿUthman ibn Talhah. Then I advanced; by God, the moment I sat before him I could not raise my gaze to him out of shyness. I pledged allegiance on condition that he ask Allah to forgive my past sins—I was too overwhelmed even to think of what might follow. He said, “Islam erases everything that precedes it, and the emigration erases everything that precedes it.”

By God, from the day we embraced Islam the Messenger of Allah ﷺ preferred no one over Khalid and me in matters pertaining to him. We held that same rank with Abu Bakr, and I continued in it with ʿUmar, though ʿUmar would sometimes speak to Khalid in a reproving tone.

ʿAbd al-Hamid ibn Jaʿfar said, “I related this report to Yazid ibn Abi Habib. He told me, ‘Rashid, the client of Habib ibn Aws al-Thaqafi, narrated it to me from Habib, from ʿAmr, in similar words.’ I asked Yazid, ‘Did he specify when ʿAmr and Khalid arrived?’ He replied, ‘No, except that he said it was before the Conquest.’ I said, ‘My father informed me that ʿAmr, Khalid, and ʿUthman reached Medina at the new moon of Safar in the eighth year.’

Yunus ibn Bukayr narrated from Ibn Ishaq, who said: Yazid ibn Abi Habib told me, on the authority of Rashid, the client of Habib, from Habib ibn Abi Aws, who said that ʿAmr ibn al-ʿAs related: “When we withdrew from the Trench, I gathered some men of Quraysh and said, ‘By God, I can see Muhammad’s affair ascending to an astonishing height; nothing can withstand him. I have thought of a plan, though I do not know how you will view it.’ They asked, ‘What is it?’ I said, ‘Let us seek refuge with the Negus.’” He then recounted the story, but in his version he adds: he struck his hand upon the nose…"}