(1)
O eye, weep for the dauntless cavalier; then weep again in torrents unrestrained.
Tire not of tears now that Time has betrayed you, snatching away a man ever true and patient.
Devout was he, dignified and forbearing, a peer to all glory when glory is claimed.
My soul aches that you are gone, O ʿAmr; lifetimes have surrendered you to the decrees of fate.
By my life, had you not struck him by treachery, you would have faced a lion with a keen, cleaving sword.

(2)
He said, “Her words enraged me. I drew my sword and entered the tent to kill her, but found no one inside. So I drove off the livestock and returned to my people.”

This is indeed a wondrous report. It appears that the old man was one of the jinn, a creature who had embraced Islam and learned the Qur’an. Among the verses he knew was: “In the Name of Allah, the All-Merciful, the Most Compassionate,” and by it he would seek refuge.

Al-Kharā’iṭī related: ʿAbd Allah ibn Muḥammad al-Balawī narrated to us; ʿUmārah ibn Zayd narrated to us; he said: ʿAbd Allah ibn al-ʿAlāʾ narrated to me, from Hishām ibn ʿUrwah, from his father, from his grandmother Asmāʾ bint Abī Bakr, who said:

“Zayd ibn ʿAmr ibn Nufayl and Waraqah ibn Nawfal told that they went to the Negus after Abraha’s return from Mecca.

They said, ‘When we entered his presence he asked, “Tell me truthfully, men of Quraysh: has a child been born among you whose father meant to sacrifice him, but the lots were cast and he was spared, so that many camels were slaughtered in his stead?” We answered, “Yes.”

‘He asked, “Do you know what has become of him?” We replied, “He has married a woman named Āminah bint Wahb; he left her pregnant and departed.”

‘He said, “Do you know whether she has given birth or not?”

‘Waraqah ibn Nawfal said, “I shall inform you, O King. One night I was sleeping beside an idol of ours that we used to circumambulate and worship when I heard a voice from its belly proclaim:

The Prophet is born; the angels are humbled,
Error has fled, and idolatry has turned its back.

‘The idol then toppled on its face.

‘Zayd ibn ʿAmr ibn Nufayl said, “I have news to match his, O King.”

‘He said, “Speak.”

‘Zayd said, “On that very night, while my family were discussing Āminah’s pregnancy, I left them and made for Mount Abū Qubays, seeking solitude over a matter that troubled me. There I saw a man descend from the sky with two green wings. He alighted on Abū Qubays, leaned over Mecca and proclaimed, ‘Satan is humbled, the idols have perished, and the Trustworthy One is born.’ He then unfurled a cloth he carried, stretching it from east to west until it covered everything beneath the sky. A light shone that nearly took my sight, and I was overwhelmed. The herald beat his wings until he settled upon the Kaʿbah, from which a radiance gleamed that lit up all of Tihāmah. He then said, ‘The earth has been purified and has produced its spring,’ and he pointed toward the idols that stood upon the Kaʿbah.”’