—in my eyes!’
They kept saying, ‘We can’t see a thing!’ He remained like that until both his eyes went blind.

As for al-Ḥārith ibn Ghayṭalah, a yellow fluid collected in his abdomen until his filth came out through his mouth, and he died from it. As for al-ʿĀṣ ibn Wāʾil, one day a shibriqah thorn worked its way into his head, filled it, and he died of it.

Another transmitter of this report said: He rode a donkey to al-Ṭāʾif; the animal sat down on a shibriqah—i.e. a thorny bush—and a thorn pierced the sole of his foot and killed him. Al-Bayhaqī (1) narrates this with similar wording.

Ibn Isḥāq (2) said: The principal scoffers—as Yazīd ibn Rūmān told me from ʿUrwah ibn al-Zubayr—were five men, elders of their clans and people of standing: al-Aswad ibn al-Muṭṭalib Abū Zamʿah, against whom the Messenger of Allah ﷺ prayed,

“O Allah, take away his sight and bereave him of his child”;

al-Aswad ibn ʿAbd Yaghūth, al-Walīd ibn al-Mughīrah, al-ʿĀṣ ibn Wāʾil, and al-Ḥārith ibn al-Ṭulāṭilah. Concerning them the Most High revealed: “So proclaim openly what you have been commanded and turn away from the idolaters; indeed We are sufficient for you against the mockers, those who set up another god beside Allah—soon they will know” (al-Ḥijr 15:94-96).

He further related that Jibrīl came to the Messenger of Allah ﷺ while the mockers were circumambulating the Kaʿbah. Jibrīl stood, and the Messenger of Allah ﷺ stood beside him. Al-Aswad ibn al-Muṭṭalib passed by, and Jibrīl threw a green leaf into his face so that he went blind. Then al-Aswad ibn ʿAbd Yaghūth passed; Jibrīl pointed to his belly, fluid collected there, and he died of dropsy (3). Next al-Walīd ibn al-Mughīrah passed; Jibrīl pointed to an old wound at the base of his ankle—a slight scratch he had suffered years earlier when he brushed against a man of Khuzāʿah who was fletching arrows. A barbed arrowhead caught his lower garment and nicked him; the wound later reopened and he died. Then al-ʿĀṣ ibn Wāʾil passed; Jibrīl pointed to the arch of his foot. He later set out on his donkey for al-Ṭāʾif; the animal settled on a shibriqah bush, a thorn pierced the arch of his foot, and it killed him. Finally al-Ḥārith ibn al-Ṭulāṭilah passed; Jibrīl pointed to his head, which filled with pus and killed him.

Ibn Isḥāq (4) also reported that when death approached al-Walīd ibn al-Mughīrah he instructed his three sons—Khālid, Hishām, and al-Walīd—saying:

‘My sons, I commend three matters to you. First, my blood-money upon Khuzāʿah—do not press them for it; by Allah, I know they are innocent, but I fear you may be reproached over it after today. Second, my usury with Thaqīf—do not relinquish it until you have taken it. Third, my ʿuqrī (5) with Abū Uzayhir al-Dawsī—let it not slip away.’

Abū Uzayhir had married al-Walīd to his daughter and had already received her ʿuqr, which was her dowry, but he withheld her and never allowed her to join al-Walīd until the latter died.