bringing weapons for Banū al-Dayl, and a number of Quraysh themselves took part—concealing their involvement—until they drove Khuzaʿah back into the Sacred Precinct. Some of Nufal’s men said to him, “Fear your Lord and do not violate the Sanctuary.” He retorted, “Today I acknowledge no deity! By God, O sons of Kinānah, you steal within the Sanctuary—shall you not then exact your blood-revenge there as well?” They thereupon killed a man of Khuzaʿah. Khuzaʿah fled for shelter to the house of Budayl ibn Warqāʾ al-Khuzaʿī and to the house of Rāfiʿ, Khuzaʿah’s freedman.

When Banū Bakr and Quraysh thus fell upon Khuzaʿah, they broke the truce that bound them to the Messenger of Allah ﷺ. ʿAmr ibn Sālim al-Khuzaʿī set out with a delegation, seeking the Prophet’s help. He found the Prophet ﷺ sitting in the mosque amid the people, and, standing before him, he recited:

O Lord, I call on Muhammad,
recalling the pact our fathers swore of old.
You were the children, we the parent clan;
once we embraced Islam, we never broke the hand-clasp.
So aid us—may Allah guide you—with sure support,
and summon Allah’s servants: let them come in waves;
With them the Messenger of Allah will stand unveiled—
if wronged, his face will darken, angered.
In ranks like a sea in flood, foaming high.
Quraysh have failed you in the promise they had made,
They ripped apart your solemn covenant
and laid an ambush for me at Kudāʾ.
They claim that I have none to call upon,
yet they are lower and fewer in number.
They surprised us at al-Watīr in deepest night,
and they slew us as we bowed and prostrated.
So grant us, Allah guide you, a mighty victory.

The Messenger of Allah ﷺ replied, “You are granted help, ʿAmr ibn Sālim.”

Then a cloudbank appeared overhead, and he said, “This cloud heralds the victory of Banū Kaʿb”—meaning Khuzaʿah. A fuller version of the report was transmitted by Yūnus ibn