—your Lord, the Lord of those before you and of those who will come after you—has Allah commanded you to make us perform these five prayers?’ He replied, ‘Yes.’ He then went on to list the obligations of Islam, pressing him to swear regarding each one. When he had finished he declared, ‘I bear witness that there is no god but Allah and that Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah. I will fulfil these obligations and avoid what you have forbidden me; I will add nothing to them and take nothing away.’

He then returned to his camel and set off. The Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, said, ‘If the man with the two braids is telling the truth, he will enter Paradise.’

When he reached his tribe they gathered round him, and the first thing he said was, ‘Perish al-Lāt and al-ʿUzzā!’ They cried, ‘Steady on, Dimām! Beware of leprosy, beware of madness!’ He answered, ‘Woe to you! By Allah, they can neither harm nor benefit anyone. Allah has sent a Messenger and revealed to him a Book by which He has rescued you from what you were in. I bear witness that there is no god but Allah and that Muhammad is His servant and Messenger. I have come to you from him with what he commands you and what he forbids you.’

By Allah, the sun did not set that day before every man and woman in his encampment had embraced Islam.

Ibn ʿAbbās said, ‘We have never heard of any envoy who served his people better than Dimām.’

Isḥāq ibn Abī Isrāʾīl al-Marwazī related: ‘Hamzah ibn al-Ḥārith ibn ʿUmayr told me, saying: my father told us, from ʿUbayd Allah ibn ʿUmar, from Saʿīd, from Abū Hurayrah, that a Bedouin came to the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, and said, “I adjure you by the Lord of those before you and the Lord of those after you—has Allah sent you?” He reported the rest of the story, and in it he said: “Indeed I have believed and affirmed the message, and I am Dimām ibn Thaʿlaba.” When he turned to leave, the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, said…’