Standing at the doorway they asked, “Who is the elder?”
He replied, “An elder from Najd who has heard of the matter for which you have gathered. He has come to listen to what you decide, and perhaps he can offer you sound opinion and advice.”
They said, “Very well—enter.”
He went in with them, and there inside were the chiefs of Quraysh: ʿUtbah and Shaybah, Abū Sufyān, Tuʿaymah ibn ʿAdī, Jubayr ibn Muṭʿim ibn ʿAdī, al-Ḥārith ibn ʿĀmir ibn Nawfal, al-Naḍr ibn al-Ḥārith, Abū al-Bukhturī ibn Hishām, Zamʿah ibn al-Aswad, Ḥakīm ibn Ḥizām, Abū Jahl ibn Hishām, Nubayh and Munabbih—the sons of al-Ḥajjāj—Umayyah ibn Khalaf, and everyone else (1) of Quraysh whose names are too numerous to list.
They said to one another, “You all know what has come of this man. By Allah, we cannot feel safe from his suddenly attacking us with those outsiders who have followed him. Decide upon a firm course regarding him.”
They consulted, and one of them—said to have been Abū al-Bukhturī ibn Hishām (2)—suggested, “Let us confine him in irons, lock a door upon him, and wait for him to meet the same end that befell the poets before him—Zuheyr, al-Nābighah, and the rest—until death overtakes him as it overtook them.”
The Najdī elder said, “No, by Allah, that is no plan for you. If you imprison him as you propose, his cause will make its way past the very door you have shut against him and reach his companions. They will soon pounce upon you, snatch him from your hands, and then overwhelm you until they wrest control of your affairs. This is no plan for you.”
They consulted again, and someone said, “Let us drive him out from among us and banish him from our land. Once he has left us, by Allah, we do not care where he goes or where he settles. When he is gone, we shall be rid of him and can restore our affairs and mutual concord as before.”
The Najdī elder replied, “No, by Allah, that is no plan for you either. Do you not see how captivating his speech is, how sweet his words, how he gains mastery over men’s hearts by what he brings? By Allah, if you do that I do not feel safe (3) that he will descend upon some Arab clan, prevail over them with his words, and they will follow him. Then he will march against you with them, tread you underfoot, seize your affairs from your hands, and treat you as he wishes. Consider some plan other than this (4).”
Abū Jahl ibn Hishām then said, “By Allah, I have a plan for him that none of you has yet mentioned.”
They asked, “What is it, Abū al-Ḥakam?”
He said, “I propose that we take from every clan a strong, noble, stalwart youth. Give each of them a sharp sword; then they go to him together and strike him with their swords all at once, killing him. Thus we shall be rid of him. When that happens, his blood will be distributed among all the tribes, and the Banū ʿAbd Manāf will be unable to fight all of their people. They will accept the blood-money, and we will pay it to them.”
The Najdī elder said, “The man has spoken the word—this is the plan, and there is no other.”
They therefore broke up on that agreement, unanimously resolved to carry it out.