and the House of Abraham, to remain theirs forever. Witnessed by ʿAbbās ibn ʿAbd al-Muttalib, Jahannam ibn Qays, and Shurahbīl Hasana.’”

He said: “When the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, emigrated to Medina, we presented it to him and asked him to renew it by issuing another document. He wrote us a document whose wording was: ‘In the name of Allah, the Most Merciful, the Especially Merciful. This is what Muhammad, the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, has accorded to Tamīm al-Dārī and his companions: I have given you Bayt ʿUyūn, Habrūn and the House of Abraham, with everything they contain under their protection, as an irrevocable gift and taghārat. I have surrendered this to them and their descendants after them. Witnessed by Abū Bakr ibn Abī Quhāfa, ʿUmar ibn al-Khattāb, ʿUthmān ibn ʿAffān, ʿAlī ibn Abī Tālib, and Muʿāwiya ibn Abī Sufyān—may Allah be pleased with them all.’”

When the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, passed away, Abū Bakr succeeded him and dispatched armies to Syria. He wrote a document whose wording was:

“From Abū Bakr al-Siddīq to ʿUbayda ibn al-Jarrāh: Allah’s peace be upon you. I praise Allah, besides whom there is no god. May Allah bless our master Muhammad. To proceed: prohibit anyone who believes in Allah and the Last Day from disputing the villages of the Dārīs. If their inhabitants have departed and al-Rabwān wish to cultivate them, let them do so. When their inhabitants return, however, the villages belong to them, and they have the greater right to them. Peace be upon you.”

The end of the book. Praise belongs to Allah alone. May Allah bless our master Muhammad—may He bless him—and his family and companions. It was completed on Wednesday, the tenth of the blessed, sacred month of Muharram, in the year 885 after the Prophet’s Hijra—may the most excellent blessings and fullest peace be upon him—in Cairo the Protected. May Allah Most High protect it. Amen.