Had I known anyone better than you, I would have appointed him over them.’
At that time he was a little over twenty years old, and he was a righteous man. It is related from him that he said: ‘During my tenure I acquired only two lined cloaks, which I put on my servant. So let none of you say, “ʿAttāb has taken such-and-such from me,” for the Messenger of Allah ﷺ granted me an allowance of two dirhams each day. May Allah never fill the belly that two dirhams a day do not satisfy.’
That year the people performed the ḥajj in the very manner the pre-Islamic Arabs had practiced, and Allah knows best.
The Story of Kaʿb ibn Zuhayr
When the Messenger of Allah ﷺ returned from that campaign, Bujayr ibn Zuhayr wrote to his brother Kaʿb ibn Zuhayr to inform him that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ had killed certain men in Mecca who had mocked and harmed him, and that the remaining poets of Quraysh— Ibn al-Zubʿarī and Hubayra ibn Abī Wahb— had scattered in every direction. ‘If you care for yourself,’ he wrote, ‘hurry to the Messenger of Allah ﷺ, for he does not kill anyone who comes to him repentant. If you will not do that, then flee to whatever corner of the earth can give you safety.’
Kaʿb had earlier said:
-
“Go, carry a message from me to Bujayr:
Alas, do you care at all for what I have said? -
Make it plain to us—if you will not comply—
What other counsel has pointed out your way. -
Toward virtues no father was ever known to possess,
Nor will you find a brother so endowed. -
If you refuse, I shall not grieve for you,
Nor will I strike you should you stumble—away with you!”