“Easy, ʿUmar,” I said. ʿUmar retorted, “By Allah, you are only doing this because the man belongs to the clan of ʿAbd Manāf; had he been from Banū ʿAdī ibn Kaʿb you would never have spoken so. Take it easy, Abbas! By Allah, the day you embraced Islam was dearer to me than if al-Khaṭṭāb himself were to accept Islam, and that is only because I knew your Islam was dearer to the Messenger of Allah ﷺ than al-Khaṭṭāb’s would have been had he become Muslim.”

The Messenger of Allah ﷺ then said, “Take him away, for we have granted him safety; bring him back to me at dawn.” So al-ʿAbbās escorted him to his quarters.

At daybreak he brought him to the Messenger of Allah ﷺ. When the Prophet saw him he said, “Woe to you, Abū Sufyān! Has the time not come for you to realize that there is no god but Allah?” He replied, “May my father and mother be your ransom—how kind and noble you are! By Allah, I was convinced that if there had been any other deity beside Allah it would have helped me in some way after all that has happened.” The Prophet said, “Woe to you! Has the time not come for you to know that I am the Messenger of Allah?” He answered, “May my father and mother be your ransom—how kind, forbearing and noble you are! As for this, there is still something in my heart.” Al-ʿAbbās said, “Woe to you! Bear witness to the truth before, by Allah, your neck is struck.” So he declared the testimony.

When he had done so, the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said, “Take him away, Abbas, and confine him at the narrow pass beneath the mountain until the armies of Allah march past him.”

I said, “Messenger of Allah, Abū Sufyān is a man who loves prestige; grant him something he can take pride in among his people.” He replied, “Very well: whoever enters the house of Abū Sufyān is safe; whoever enters the Mosque is safe; and whoever shuts his own door is safe.”

I led him out and stationed him at the rocky shelf where the valley narrows. As the tribes filed past he would ask, “Who are these, Abbas?” I would answer, “Sulaym,” and he would say, “What have I to do with Sulaym?” Another tribe would pass and he would ask, “Who are these?” I would say, “Aslam,” and he would reply, “What have I to do with Aslam?” Then Juhaynah passed by, and so it continued until the Messenger of Allah ﷺ appeared with his green-bannered battalion of Emigrants and Helpers, clad in armor so that only their eyes were visible. Abū Sufyān exclaimed, “O Abū al-Faḍl, who are these?” I said, “This is the Messenger of Allah ﷺ with the Emigrants and the Helpers.” He said