[Continuing] Ibn Shihab said: Saʿid ibn al-Musayyib and ʿUrwah told me that the Hawazin captives numbered six thousand.

Yunus ibn Bukayr, transmitting from Ibn Ishaq, reported: ʿAmr ibn Shuʿayb related to me, from his father, from his grandfather, who said: We were with the Messenger of Allah ﷺ at Hunayn. After he had taken from Hawazin the wealth and the captives that he took, their delegation caught up with him at al-Jiʿranah once they had embraced Islam. They said, “O Messenger of Allah, we are people of lineage and kin, and a calamity has befallen us that is not hidden from you. Grant us clemency—may Allah grant you clemency.”

Their spokesman Zuhayr ibn Ṣurd then rose and said, “O Messenger of Allah, among those confined in the enclosures are your maternal aunts, your paternal aunts, and the nurses who reared you. Had we appealed to Ibn Abī Shammir or al-Nuʿmān ibn al-Mundhir and then suffered from them what we have suffered from you, we would still have hoped for their kindness and compassion—and you are the best of all who have been fostered.”

He then recited the verses he had composed:

“Bestow your favor upon us, Messenger of Allah, in generosity—
for you are the one in whom we place our hopes and store them away.

Show kindness to a clan whose sinews wounds have severed,
whose unity the turns of time have torn apart.

War has left them crying out above wearied steeds,
their hearts burdened with grief and deep distress.

Unless a bounty you spread overtakes them,
O most even-tempered of men when put to the test.

Be gracious to women who once suckled you,
when your mouth was filled with pearls of their pure milk.

Be gracious to women who once nursed you,
whose every act and restraint adorned you.

Do not leave us like one whose fortune-bird has flown;
keep something for us, for we are a noble people.

We give thanks for favors even if others deny them,
and still have after this day gratitude in store.”

The Messenger of Allah ﷺ then asked, “Are your women dearer to you, or your wealth?” They replied, “You have set us between our lineage and our property; our sons and our women are dearer to us.” He said, “Whatever belongs to me and to the sons of ʿAbd al-Muṭṭalib is yours. When I have led the people in prayer, rise and say: ‘We seek the intercession of the Messenger of Allah with the Muslims, and the intercession of the Muslims with the Messenger of Allah, concerning our children and our women.’ I will then support you and plead on your behalf.”

When the Messenger of Allah ﷺ had led the people in the noon prayer, they stood and did exactly as he had instructed them, and he said, “As for what—”