Allah ibn Shihab al-Zuhri, who related from Abu Bakr ibn ʿAbd al-Rahman ibn al-Harith ibn Hisham al-Makhzumi, from Umm Salamah bint Abi Umayyah ibn al-Mughirah, the wife of the Prophet—may Allah bless him and grant him peace, and may Allah be pleased with her—who said:

“When we settled in the land of Abyssinia we enjoyed the company of the finest neighbor, the Negus. We felt secure in our religion, worshipped Allah freely, suffered no harm, and heard nothing that upset us. When this reached Quraysh, they conspired to send to the Negus two strong, determined men and to offer him gifts from the most prized merchandise of Mecca. Of all that reached him from there, what delighted him most was tanned leather, so they gathered a large quantity of leather for him, and they did not leave a single one of his courtiers without sending him a present. They then dispatched ʿAbd Allah ibn Abi Rabiʿah ibn al-Mughirah with those gifts.”