“O Allah, drive Satan away from him.” I lifted my eyes to him, and he became dearer to me than my own hearing and sight. He then said, “Shayb, fight the unbelievers.” This report is exceedingly singular.

Ayyūb ibn Jābir narrated from Ṣadaqah ibn Saʿīd, from Muṣʿab ibn Shaybah, from his father, who said: “I went out with the Messenger of Allah ﷺ, and by Allah it was not faith that took me out; rather, I could not bear the thought that Hawāzin might prevail over Quraysh. While I was standing beside him I said, ‘Messenger of Allah, I can see piebald horses.’ He replied, ‘Shaybah, none sees them except an unbeliever.’ He struck his hand upon my chest and then said, ‘O Allah, guide Shaybah.’ He did that three times, until no one in all creation was dearer to me than he.” He then related the rest of the account.

Ibn Isḥāq said: Malik ibn ʿAwf recited, describing their march after he had accepted Islam:

“Recall their advance when the ranks assembled,
with Mālik above them, banners fluttering high.
Mālik—Mālik whom none could surpass—
on Hunayn’s day, a gleaming coronet on his brow.
They met the foe, the best of men before them,
helmets, coats of mail and shields agleam.
They struck the enemy till none was left in sight
around the Prophet, till dusk itself cloaked him.
Then Gabriel descended with their victory:
folk fled before them or fell in embrace.
Had any but Gabriel fought against us,
our close-set swords would still have held the line.
And ʿUmar al-Farūq proved true when they wavered,
with a thrust that crimsoned even his saddle-cloth.”

Mālik related in the Muwaṭṭaʾ from Yaḥyā ibn Saʿīd, from ʿUmar ibn Kathīr ibn Aflaḥ, from Abū Muḥammad, the freedman of Abū Qatādah, from Abū Qatādah, who said: “We set out with the Messenger of Allah ﷺ in the year of Hunayn. When the two armies met, the Muslims gave ground. I saw one of the idolaters standing over a Muslim, so I turned back toward him …”