of your people?’ I said, ‘Yes.’ He continued, ‘Do you not take the mirbaʿ—the fourth share of the spoils?’ I said, ‘Yes.’ He replied, ‘That is not lawful in your religion.’ I felt some resentment at that.

Then he said, ‘Perhaps what holds you back from accepting Islam is that you notice the poverty of those with us and see the nations united against us. Have you ever seen al-Hira?’ I answered, ‘I have not, though I know where it is.’ He said, ‘A time will come when a woman will set out from al-Hira and travel until she circles the House (the Kaʿbah) without needing any escort; and you will surely open the treasuries of Chosroes son of Hormizd to us.’ I exclaimed, ‘The treasuries of Chosroes son of Hormizd?’ He said, ‘Yes—and wealth will become so plentiful that a man will worry about finding someone willing to accept his charity.’

‘Indeed, I have seen a woman depart from al-Hira without an escort, and I was in the very first cavalry unit that raided Ctesiphon. By Allah, the third prediction will also come to pass; it is a statement of the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him.’ A similar report was transmitted by Hisham ibn Hassān, from Muḥammad ibn Sīrīn, from Abū ʿUbaydah.

Ibn Isḥāq said: Furwah ibn Musayk al-Murādī came to the Messenger of Allah—peace be upon him—after parting from the kings of Kindah. The Prophet appointed him over Murād, Zubayd, and all of Madhḥij, and sent Khālid ibn Saʿīd ibn al-ʿĀṣ with him to collect the alms; he remained with him until the Messenger of Allah—peace be upon him—passed away.

He also related: A delegation from Kindah—eighty riders, among them al-Ashʿath ibn Qays—came to the Messenger of Allah, peace be upon him. When they entered, he asked, ‘Have you not embraced Islam?’ They said, ‘Indeed we have.’ He said, ‘Then what is this silk around your necks?’ So they tore it off and cast it away.

He further said: Ṣurad ibn ʿAbd Allah al-Azdī came to the Messenger of Allah—peace be upon him—and accepted Islam,