Ibn Isḥāq said: Muḥammad ibn Jaʿfar ibn al-Zubayr related to me that when the delegation from Najrān arrived to meet the Messenger of Allah ﷺ, they entered his mosque after the late-afternoon prayer. When the time for their own prayer fell due, they rose and performed it inside the mosque. Some of the Muslims wanted to stop them, but the Prophet ﷺ said, “Leave them alone.” They then faced the east and offered their prayer.

Ibn Isḥāq also said: Buraydah ibn Sufyān reported to me, from Ibn al-Baylamānī, from Karaz ibn ʿAlqamah, who said: A delegation of the Christians of Najrān—sixty riders—came to the Messenger of Allah ﷺ. Among them were twenty-four of their nobles. These included al-ʿĀqib, the tribe’s chief, strategist, and decision-maker, whose given name was ʿAbd al-Masīḥ; as-Sayyid, their patron, quartermaster, and the man around whom they gathered, whose name was al-Ayham; and Abū Ḥārithah ibn ʿAlqamah, of Banū Bakr ibn Wāʾil—their bishop, scholar, prayer-leader, and head of their schools.

Abū Ḥārithah enjoyed high rank among them and had studied their scriptures until he became well-versed in their religion. The Christian emperors of Byzantium had honoured him, granted him stipends, and built churches for him. When the party set out from Najrān toward the Messenger of Allah ﷺ, Abū Ḥārithah rode a mule headed for the Prophet, while his brother—named Karaz ibn ʿAlqamah—walked at his side. The mule suddenly stumbled, whereupon Karaz exclaimed, “May the distant one perish!”—meaning the Messenger of Allah ﷺ. Abū Ḥārithah retorted, “Rather, may you perish!” Karaz asked, “Why, my brother?” He replied, “By Allah, he is indeed the Prophet we have been waiting for.” Karaz said, “Then what prevents you—when you know this—from following him?” Abū Ḥārithah answered, “It is what these people have done for us: they have honoured us, endowed us, and will tolerate no other leadership. Were I to follow him, they would take away everything you see.” His brother Karaz kept this to heart until he later accepted Islam.

Ibn Isḥāq further said: Muḥammad ibn Abī Muḥammad, the client of Zayd ibn Thābit, told me—he said: Saʿīd ibn Jubayr or ʿIkrimah narrated to me from Ibn ʿAbbās: The Christians of Najrān and the Jewish rabbis gathered in the presence of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ and began to dispute, whereupon