—your own situation, for by Allah, a grave matter has come upon you.’

Al-Naḍr ibn al-Ḥārith was one of the devils of Quraysh, a persistent tormentor of the Messenger of Allah—may Allah bless him and grant him peace—who openly declared his enmity toward him.

He (Ibn Isḥāq) said:

Al-Zuhrī related to me: ‘I was told that Abū Jahl, Abū Sufyān, and al-Akhnas ibn Shurayq went out one night to listen to the Messenger of Allah—may Allah bless him and grant him peace—while he was praying in his house during the night. Each of them chose a separate spot from which to listen, unaware of the others’ whereabouts. They remained there listening until daybreak; when dawn appeared they slipped away, but the road soon brought them together, and they reproached one another.

Some said to the others, “Do not come back; if any of your simple-minded folk were to see you, you would sow confusion in his heart.” Then they departed.

Yet when the second night came, each man returned to his place and again spent the night listening to him. When dawn rose they dispersed, the road gathered them once more, and they repeated the very words they had spoken the first time before going off.

When the third night