and would deride the faith. One day a number of them gathered in the mosque. The Messenger of God ﷺ noticed them speaking in hushed tones, their heads together, so he ordered that they be driven out of the mosque with force.

Abu Ayyub went up to ʿAmr ibn Qays of the Banū al-Najjār—who had been the keeper of their idols in the Age of Ignorance—seized him by the leg, and dragged him outside (1). As he was being hauled off the man cried, “May God curse him! Abu Ayyub, are you casting me out of the threshing-place of Banū Thaʿlabah?”

Abu Ayyub then turned to Rāfiʿ ibn Wadīʿah al-Najjārī, grabbed him by the collar of his cloak, shook him violently (2), slapped his face, and expelled him from the mosque, saying, “Fie on you, you vile hypocrite!”

ʿImārah ibn Ḥazm next took hold of Zayd ibn ʿAmr—who wore a long beard—gripped that beard, and dragged him roughly until he was outside. Then ʿImārah clasped both hands together and struck him a blow on the chest that knocked him to the ground (3). The man protested, “You have scratched me, ʿImārah!” He replied, “May God remove you far away, hypocrite! What God has prepared for you of punishment is far worse than this. Do not approach the mosque of the Messenger of God ﷺ again.”

Abū Muḥammad Masʿūd ibn Aws ibn Zayd ibn Aṣram ibn Zayd ibn Thaʿlabah ibn Ghanm ibn Mālik ibn al-Najjār—one of the men of Badr—went up to Qays ibn ʿAmr ibn Sahl, a young man and the only youth among the hypocrites, and kept shoving him in the back until he forced him out of the mosque.

A man from Banū Khudrah seized a hypocrite named al-Ḥārith ibn ʿAmr, who had abundant hair, grabbed him by that hair, and dragged him harshly over the ground until he was outside. The hypocrite kept saying, “You have been rough with me, Abu al-Ḥārith.” (4) He replied, “You deserve no less, enemy of God, in light of what has been revealed about you. Do not come near the mosque of the Messenger of God ﷺ, for you are impure.”

Another man of Banū ʿAmr ibn ʿAwf took hold of his brother Zuwayy ibn al-Ḥārith, expelled him violently, and expressed his disgust (5), saying, “Satan and his orders have gotten the better of you.”

Ibn Isḥāq (6) afterward cited the verses revealed about them (7) in Sūrat al-Baqarah and Sūrat al-Tawbah, and he offered a detailed commentary—doing so with excellence and benefit. May God have mercy on him.