After he had returned every trust that had been left with him, ʿAlī caught up with the Messenger of Allah ﷺ and stayed with him in the house of Kulthūm ibn al-Hidm. His own stay in Qubāʾ lasted only a night or two. ʿAlī later related:

“In Qubāʾ there was a Muslim woman who had no husband. I noticed a man who would come to her deep in the night, knock on her door, and when she went out to him he would hand her something, which she would accept. I became uneasy about the matter and said to her, ‘Servant of Allah, who is this man who knocks on your door every night, you go out to him, and he gives you something I cannot identify—while you are a Muslim woman with no husband?’ She replied, ‘This is Sahl ibn Ḥunayf. He knows I have no one to look after me, so each evening he slips out, smashes the idols of his people, then brings them to me and says, “Use these for firewood.”’ ”

ʿAlī used to recount this deed of Sahl ibn Ḥunayf when the latter died while serving under him in Iraq.

Ibn Isḥāq (1) continues: The Messenger of Allah ﷺ remained in Qubāʾ among Banū ʿAmr ibn ʿAwf on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday, during which he laid the foundations of his mosque. God caused him to depart from them on Friday, although Banū ʿAmr ibn ʿAwf claim that he stayed with them longer than that.

ʿAbd Allāh ibn Idrīs, reporting from Muḥammad ibn Isḥāq, says: “Banū ʿAmr ibn ʿAwf maintain that he ﷺ stayed with them for eighteen nights.”

I say: Al-Bukhārī (2) has already transmitted through al-Zuhrī from ʿUrwah that he ﷺ remained with them for “a number of nights over ten.” Mūsā ibn ʿUqbah narrated from Mujammiʿ ibn Yazīd ibn Jāriya (3) that he said: “The Messenger of Allah ﷺ stayed among us—meaning Banū ʿAmr ibn ʿAwf in Qubāʾ—for twenty-two nights.”

Al-Wāqidī said: “It is also said that he stayed with them for fourteen nights. Allah knows best.”

Ibn Isḥāq (4) further relates: Friday overtook the Messenger of Allah ﷺ while he was with Banū Sālim ibn ʿAwf, so he performed the Friday prayer in the mosque situated in the bed of the valley—Wādī Rānūnāʾ. That was the first Jumuʿah he prayed in Madinah.

ʿItbān ibn Mālik and ʿAbbās ibn ʿUbādah ibn Naḍlah, accompanied by a group of men from Banū Sālim, came to him and said, “O Messenger of Allah, stay with us; we possess numbers, weapons, and protection.” He replied, referring to his she-camel, “Leave her path, for she is under command.” They let her be, and she continued until, when she passed the dwellings of Banū Bayāḍah, Ziyād ibn Labīd and Farwah ibn ʿAmr, together with several men of that clan, met him and said, “O Messenger of Allah, come to us; we too have numbers, weapons, and protection.” He said, “Leave her path, for she is under command.” They complied, and she went on. When she reached the quarter of Banū Sāʿidah, Saʿd ibn ʿUbādah and al-Munḏir ibn ʿAmr intercepted him with some men of Banū