A voice rang out over Mecca, high between heaven and earth. The people heard it, yet saw no one speaking, while it proclaimed:

May the Lord of mankind bestow His richest reward
On the two companions who camped at Umm Maʿbad’s board.
They alighted with righteousness and departed with it (1);
Blessed is the one who passes the night as Muhammad’s comrade.
O House of Quṣayy, how much Allah has withheld from you—
Deeds unmatched, and an honor beyond compare!
Ask your kinswoman about her ewe and her bowl;
Even the ewe itself, if questioned, would testify.
He called for a barren sheep and—behold!—she let down her milk,
Pure, foaming, abundant for the shepherd (2).
He left that milk with her as a pledged bounty,
Ever flowing for any milker on every going and returning (3).

When morning came the people—meaning the Meccans—found that their Prophet was gone. They made for the tents of Umm Maʿbad, following his track until they caught up with the Messenger of Allah ﷺ.

Hassān ibn Thābit answered that first poem, saying:

A people are truly bereft when their Prophet departs,
While those to whom he journeys by night or by day rejoice (4).
He left a folk whose wits were undone,
And settled among a folk illumined with fresh light.
Through him their Lord guided them after misguidance,
And whoever follows the truth he shows is rightly guided (5).
Can a blind, scoffing band who wander astray
Be equal to guides who follow a guided one?
A Prophet who sees what those around him cannot see,
Reciting Allah’s Book in every assembly.
Should he speak one day of things unseen,
Their confirmation comes that day or by the dawn of the next.
Glad tidings to Abū Bakr for the happiness decreed for him—
Whomever Allah makes happy is surely happy—through his companionship.
Glad tidings as well to Banū Kaʿb for the station of their maiden,
Her seat now an outpost for the Muslims.

ʿAbd al-Malik ibn Wahb said: I have been informed that Abū Maʿbad accepted Islam and emigrated to the Prophet ﷺ.

Al-Ḥāfiẓ Abū Nuʿaym likewise narrated it (6) through the chain of ʿAbd al-Malik ibn Wahb al-Madhḥijī in exactly the same wording, adding at the end: “ʿAbd al-Malik said: I have also learned that Umm Maʿbad emigrated, embraced Islam, and joined the Messenger of Allah ﷺ.”