The Arrival of the Arab Delegations

Ibn Lahiʿa related—through Abū al-Aswad—from ʿUrwa ibn al-Zubayr, who said: When Abū Bakr and ʿAlī—may Allah be pleased with them—had concluded the pilgrimage on behalf of the people and set out on the homeward journey, ʿUrwa ibn Masʿūd al-Thaqafī came to the Messenger of Allah ﷺ and embraced Islam. The same is reported by Mūsā ibn ʿUqbah. Ibn Isḥāq, however, records that ʿUrwa’s arrival occurred after the Prophet ﷺ had departed from the people of Ṭāʾif and from Mecca; he met him before the Prophet reached Madinah, accepted Islam, and asked permission to return to his people with the message of Islam. The Messenger of Allah ﷺ replied, “They will kill you.”

A few months later, the delegation of Thaqīf arrived:

Hātim ibn Ismāʿīl transmitted from Ibrāhīm ibn Ismāʿīl ibn Mujammaʿ, from ʿAbd al-Karīm, from ʿAlqama ibn Sufyān ibn ʿAbd Allāh al-Thaqafī, from his father, who said: We were among the delegation that visited the Messenger of Allah ﷺ. He had two tents set up for us beside the house of al-Mughīra ibn Shuʿba. Bilāl used to bring us the food with which to break our fast, and we would ask, “Has the Messenger of Allah ﷺ broken his fast?” He would answer, “Yes; I did not come to you until he had broken it.” He would then place his hand in the dish, eat, and we would eat.

Hammād ibn Salama reported—through Ḥumayd, from al-Ḥasan—from ʿUthmān ibn Abī al-ʿĀṣ al-Thaqafī that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ lodged them in a tent inside the mosque so that their hearts might soften. When they embraced Islam they stipulated that they would neither be conscripted for war nor obligated to pay the tithe.