The freedman of the ʿAbādil related:
“I set out with Ibrāhīm ibn ʿAbd al-Raḥmān to Ibn Saʿd (1). When we reached al-ʿArj, Ibn Saʿd came to us—Saʿd being the very man who had shown the Messenger of Allah ﷺ the route of Rakūbah (2).
Ibrāhīm said to him, ‘Tell me what your father told you.’
Ibn Saʿd replied, ‘My father informed me that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ came to them accompanied by Abū Bakr—Abū Bakr had a nursling daughter with us at the time. The Messenger of Allah ﷺ wished to take a shorter road to Madinah.
Saʿd said to him, “This is the ravine of Rakūbah (3), and in it are two bandits from the tribe of Aslam known as al-Muhānān. If you wish, we can go by them.”
The Prophet ﷺ said, “Lead us by their route.”
Saʿd continued, ‘We set out, and when we came within sight of them one of the two said to his companion, “Here comes the Yemeni.” The Messenger of Allah ﷺ called the pair, invited them to Islam, and they accepted it.
He then asked their names. They said, “We are al-Muhānān (the despised ones).” He replied, “Rather, you are al-Mukramān (the honored ones),” and instructed them to come to him in Madinah.
We travelled on until, when we reached the outskirts of Qubāʾ, the clan of Banū ʿAmr ibn ʿAwf came out to welcome us. The Messenger of Allah ﷺ asked, “Where is Abū Umāmah, Asʿad ibn Zurārah?”
Saʿd ibn Khaythamah answered, “He passed by before me, Messenger of Allah. Shall I not inform him of your arrival?”
The Messenger of Allah ﷺ continued on. When he came upon the date-palms he found the watering troughs full.
He turned to Abū Bakr and said, “Abū Bakr, this is the stopping place. I saw myself alighting at cisterns like the cisterns of Banū Mudlij.”
This report is recorded only by Aḥmad.
Section: His ﷺ entry into Madinah, where he took up residence, and related matters
We have already mentioned the report transmitted by al-Bukhārī from al-Zuhrī, from ʿUrwah, that the Prophet ﷺ entered Madinah at midday (8).
I say: It is more likely that this was after the sun had passed the meridian, for it is established in the two Ṣaḥīḥs (9)—in the ḥadīth narrated by Isrāʾīl, from Abū Isḥāq, from al-Barāʾ ibn ʿĀzib, from Abū Bakr, concerning the Hijrah—that he said: ‘We arrived by night, and the people disputed over which of them he would lodge with.
The Messenger of Allah ﷺ said, “I shall alight with the Banū al-Najjār, the maternal uncles of ʿAbd al-Muṭṭalib, honoring them thereby.”’
Allah knows best: either this occurred on the day he reached Qubāʾ—so that when he arrived near Madinah it was during the intense heat of midday—and he stayed