“Abu al-Fadl,” he exclaimed, “your nephew’s dominion has become truly great!”

I answered, “Shame on you—this is prophethood.”

He said, “In that case, so be it.”

I continued, “Go to your people at once and warn them.” He hurried off, reached Mecca, and cried out in the Sanctuary: “People of Quraysh! Muhammad has come upon you with a force you cannot resist!”

They asked, “Then what do you suggest?” He replied, “Whoever enters my house is safe.”

They said, “What good is your house to us?” He answered, “Whoever enters the Mosque is safe, and whoever bolts his own door is safe.”

Ibn Ishaq related this wording from Husayn ibn ʿAbd Allah ibn ʿUbayd Allah ibn ʿAbbās, from ʿIkrima, from Ibn ʿAbbās with an uninterrupted chain. Ayyūb al-Sakhtiyānī, however, transmitted it as a mursal report. Ibn Idrīs also narrated it from Ibn Ishaq, from al-Zuhrī, from ʿUbayd Allah, from Ibn ʿAbbās with the same purport.

ʿUrwah said: Nāfiʿ ibn Jubayr ibn Muṭʿim told me, “I heard al-ʿAbbās say to al-Zubayr, ‘Abu ʿAbd Allah, this is the very spot where the Messenger of Allah ﷺ ordered you to plant the banner.’” He added that on that day the Messenger of Allah ﷺ ordered Khālid ibn al-Walīd to enter Mecca from Kadāʾ, and the Prophet ﷺ himself entered by Kadāʾ. Two of Khālid’s cavalrymen were killed that day: Jaysh ibn al-Ashʿar and Karz ibn Jābir al-Fihri.

Al-Zuhrī and others stated that Allah concealed the Prophet’s march from the Meccans until he camped at Marr al-Ẓahrān.

In the Maghāzī of Mūsā ibn ʿUqbah it is reported that the Prophet ﷺ said to Khālid ibn al-Walīd, “Why did you fight when I had forbidden fighting?” He replied, “They were the ones who began; they attacked us with weapons and showered us with arrows, and I restrained my hand as much as I could.” The Messenger of Allah ﷺ said, “Allah’s decree is best.”