from al-Wāqidī.

In the month of Rajab—prior to his departure for Tabūk—the Messenger of Allah ﷺ performed the funeral prayer for Ashama al-Najāshī, the ruler of Abyssinia; Ashama, in Arabic, means ʿAṭiyyah (“gift”). He had believed in Allah and His Messenger. The Prophet ﷺ announced, “A brother of yours in Abyssinia has passed away.” He then led the Companions to the open-air prayer ground, arranged them in rows, and offered the funeral prayer over him.

Ibn Isḥāq relates, through Yazīd b. Rumān, from ʿUrwah, from ʿĀʾishah, who said: When the Negus died, people used to say that a constant light was seen over his grave.

“Here the report contained in the Sīrah before ʿUmar’s conversion is to be inserted.”

Also in Rajab came the Expedition of Tabūk. Ibn Isḥāq, citing ʿĀṣim b. ʿUmar and ʿAbd Allāh b. Abī Bakr b. Ḥazm, states that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ would seldom set out on a campaign without suggesting that he intended a different objective—save in the Expedition of Tabūk, when he openly declared, “O people, I am heading for the Byzantines.” He informed them plainly even though the march fell in the height of the heat, during a severe drought, and just as the fruits had ripened—circumstances under which people were keen to remain with their orchards.

While the Messenger of Allah ﷺ was one day engaged in his preparations he said to al-Jadd b. Qays, “Jadd, how would you like the daughters of Banū al-Aṣfar (the Byzantines)?” He replied, “O Messenger of Allah, my people know that there is no one more taken with women than I am, and I fear that if I were to see their women …”