Ibn Isḥāq said: They were seven in number, and regarding them Allah the Exalted revealed: “And [remember] when We directed toward you a company of the jinn listening to the Qur’an” (al-Aḥqāf 46:29).

I say: We have treated this matter thoroughly in the Qur’anic commentary, and part of it has already preceded. Allah knows best.

After that, the Messenger of Allah ﷺ entered Mecca on his return from al-Ṭāʾif under the protection of al-Muṭʿim ibn ʿAdī. His people only grew more spiteful, enraged, brazen, and obstinate in their denial of him. Allah is the One whose help is sought, and upon Him we rely.

Al-Umawī relates in his Maghāzī that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ dispatched ʿAbd Allāh ibn Urayqiṭ to al-Akhnas ibn Sharīq, asking him to grant sanctuary in Mecca. Al-Akhnas replied, “A confederate of Quraysh does not grant protection against its principal clans.” He then sent him to Suhayl ibn ʿAmr, who answered, “The Banū ʿĀmir ibn Luʾayy do not grant protection against the Banū Kaʿb ibn Luʾayy.” Finally he sent him to al-Muṭʿim ibn ʿAdī, who said, “Yes—tell him to come.”

The Messenger of Allah ﷺ went to him and spent the night in his house. At dawn al-Muṭʿim came out with him, accompanied by six—or seven—of his sons, all girded with swords. They entered the Sacred Mosque and said to the Messenger of Allah ﷺ, “Perform your circumambulation.” They then sat, clasping the straps of their swords, in the area of ṭawāf.

Abū Sufyān approached al-Muṭʿim and asked, “Is he under your protection or merely following you?” (1) Al-Muṭʿim replied, “He is under my protection.” Abū Sufyān said, “Then his protection will not be violated.” He sat with him until the Messenger of Allah ﷺ completed his ṭawāf; when the Prophet departed, they departed with him, and Abū Sufyān returned to his seat.

The narrator said: The Prophet remained a few days, after which Allah permitted him to emigrate. When the Messenger of Allah ﷺ reached Madinah, al-Muṭʿim ibn ʿAdī died shortly thereafter.

Ḥassān ibn Thābit then declared, “By Allah, I shall surely eulogize him,” and among the verses he composed were: (2)

If honor today could grant a man immortality,
His honor would have saved al-Muṭʿim this very day.

You sheltered the Messenger of Allah from their reach,
And they became your servants as long as any pilgrim raised the talbiyah,
Whether in a state of ḥill or of iḥrām.

Were all of Maʿadd, indeed Qaḥṭān, or what remains of Jurhum asked about him,
They would say: “He fulfilled his neighbor’s security and covenant when others shrank.” (3)

Never has the radiant sun risen over them
Upon one among them more noble and more honored than he. (4)

Steadfast when firmness is required, yet the gentlest of temper,
And the one who sleeps most securely on behalf of his neighbor when night darkens.

I say: It was on account of such virtue that the Prophet ﷺ said on the day of the captives of Badr, “Had al-Muṭʿim ibn ʿAdī been alive and spoken to me concerning these foul prisoners, I would have released them to him.” (5)