before you arrived.”

ʿImārah thereupon turned on Zayd, jabbing him in the neck and shouting, “Servants of Allah, a calamity has been riding in my baggage without my knowing it! Out with you, enemy of Allah, get out of my gear!” Some later claimed that Zayd repented after this incident.

Ibn Isḥāq said: A group of men—among them Wadiʿah ibn Thābit and Mukhshun ibn Ḥimyar—were pointing toward the Messenger of Allah ﷺ as he set out for Tabuk. They said to one another, “Do you imagine that fighting the Banū al-Aṣfar, the Byzantines, is like Arabs skirmishing among themselves? By Allah, I can almost see you tomorrow bound together with ropes!” Their purpose was to spread alarm and intimidate the believers. Mukhshun ibn Ḥimyar remarked, “By Allah, I wish I could strike a bargain that each of us be given a hundred lashes and thereby escape having Qur’an revealed about us because of what you have just said.”

As it reached me, the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said to ʿAmmār ibn Yāsir, “Catch up with those men, for they have ruined themselves. Ask them what they said; if they deny it, tell them, ‘Indeed, you did say such-and-such.’” ʿAmmār went to them and conveyed the message. They then came to the Messenger of Allah ﷺ offering excuses. Wadiʿah ibn Thābit pleaded, “Messenger of Allah, we were only talking idly and joking.” Thereupon the verse was revealed: “If you question them, they will surely say, ‘We were only chatting and jesting.’ Say, ‘Was it Allah, His revelations and His Messenger that you were mocking?’” (al-Tawbah 9:65). Mukhshun ibn Ḥimyar said, “Messenger of Allah, my name and my father’s name have tripped me up!” He was the one who was granted clemency by this verse.