the son of al-Khazraj ibn al-Ḥārith ibn al-Khazraj, who was known as Ibn Fusḥum,(1) marched out with a party of Banū al-Ḥārith ibn al-Khazraj and they killed Ḥāṭib. War then flared between the Aws and the Khazraj; they fought a fierce battle in which the Khazraj gained the upper hand. That day Suwayd ibn aṣ-Ṣāmit of the Aws was slain by al-Mujadhdhar ibn Dhiyād, an ally of Banū ʿAwf of the Khazraj. After that, many further skirmishes broke out among their descendants, too numerous to relate here.
The point is that Abū Qays ibn al-Aslat, for all his learning and insight, derived no benefit from them when Muṣʿab ibn ʿUmayr arrived in Madinah and called its people to Islam. A great many of the inhabitants became Muslim, and there was not a single district—that is, neighborhood—of the city in which Muslim men and women were not to be found, save the quarter of Banū Wāqif, the clan of Abū Qays, for he discouraged them from embracing the faith. He is also the author of these lines:
[al-Wāfir]
O Lord of men, events have come upon us—
The harsh now bound together with the mild.
O Lord of men, since we have gone astray,
Then guide us to the pathway that is clear.(2)
Had it not been for our Lord, we would have been Jews,
And the creed of the Jews is one of many hues.(3)
Had it not been for our Lord, we would have been Christians,
Dwelling with monks upon Mount Jalīl.(4)
Yet from the moment we were created we were made upright, true monotheists,
A religion surpassing every generation.
We drive the sacrificial camels, docile and in fetters,
Their shoulders bared as they are led along the broad tracks.(5)
In sum, he confesses that he was perplexed by the news he had heard of the Messenger of God—peace and blessings be upon him—so the man of Wāqif hesitated despite his knowledge and awareness. The one who first held him back from Islam was ʿAbd Allāh ibn Ubayy ibn Salūl, after Abū Qays had informed him that this was the very man of whom the Jews had prophesied; nevertheless, he kept him from believing.
Ibn Isḥāq said: “Neither he nor his brother accepted Islam up to the Day of the Conquest; they left beforehand.”
Al-Zubayr ibn Bakkār denied that Abū Qays ever embraced Islam, and al-Wāqidī(6) likewise said: