They said, “It is you, Abu al-Walid.” So ʿUtbah went to him and said:

“O Muhammad, are you better, or ʿAbd Allah?” The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) remained silent.

“Are you better, or ʿAbd al-Muttalib?” Again the Messenger of Allah kept silent.

He continued, “If you claim that those men are better than you, they worshipped the idols you have condemned; but if you claim that you are better than they, then speak so that we may hear what you have to say. By Allah, we have never seen a newborn bring more ill-omen upon his people than you: you have split our unity, scattered our affairs, mocked our religion, and exposed us among the Arabs until it is now said that Quraysh has a sorcerer and a soothsayer. By Allah, we await nothing but a cry like that of a woman in labour, after which we shall rise against one another with our swords until we perish. Man, if poverty is what troubles you, we will gather wealth for you until you become the richest man in Quraysh; and if it is marriage you seek, choose whichever women of Quraysh you please and we will marry you to ten of them.”

The Messenger of Allah said, “Have you finished?” He replied, “Yes.”

The Prophet then recited: “In the name of Allah, the Most Compassionate, the Most Merciful. Ḥā Mīm. A revelation from the Most Compassionate, the Most Merciful; a Book whose verses have been set out in detail—an Arabic Qur’an for a people who understand…” until he reached: “But if they turn away, then say: I have warned you of a thunderbolt like the thunderbolt that struck ʿĀd and Thamūd” (Fussilat 41:13).

ʿUtbah exclaimed, “Enough! Is that all you have?” The Prophet said, “Yes.”

ʿUtbah returned to Quraysh, who asked him, “What have you brought back?” He said, “I left nothing I thought you would wish me to raise with him without raising it.”

They asked, “Did he answer you?” He replied, “Yes—by the One who raised the Kaʿbah aloft, I understood nothing of what he said except that he warned you of a thunderbolt like that which struck ʿĀd and Thamūd.”

They said, “Woe to you! The man spoke to you in Arabic and you did not understand what he said?” He answered, “No, by Allah, I understood nothing except the mention of the thunderbolt.”

Al-Bayhaqi and others transmitted this report through al-Ḥākim and others, from al-Aṣamm, from ʿAbbās al-Dūrī, from Yaḥyā ibn Maʿīn, from Muḥammad ibn Fuḍayl, from al-Ajlaḥ—though there is some discussion about the chain. His wording also adds: “If it is leadership you desire, we will hoist our banners under your command, and you shall remain our chief as long as you live.”

In his version, when the Prophet recited the verse, “But if they turn away, then say: I have warned you of a thunderbolt like the thunderbolt that struck ʿĀd and Thamūd” (Fussilat 41:13), ʿUtbah held back