She said, “I saw a rider come on his camel until he halted at al-Abṭaḥ. Then he cried out at the top of his voice: ‘Arise, O treacherous ones, to your slaughter in three days!’ (1)
I seemed to see the people gather round him; he entered the Sacred Mosque with the people following him. While they were surrounding him, his camel appeared to stand on the roof of the Kaʿbah, and he cried out the same words: ‘Arise, O treacherous ones, to your slaughter in three days!’ (2) Then his camel was shown standing on the summit of Abū Qubays (3); again he shouted the same words. After that he picked up a rock and hurled it. It came tumbling down until, when it reached the foot of the mountain, it shattered, and there was not a single house in Mecca without a fragment of that rock entering it. (4)
Al-ʿAbbās said, “By Allah, this is indeed a dream. Keep it to yourself and tell no one.”
Al-ʿAbbās then went out and met al-Walīd ibn ʿUtbah, who was a friend of his. He told him the dream and asked him to keep it secret, but al-Walīd repeated it to his father ʿUtbah, and the story spread until Quraysh were all talking about it. (5)
Al-ʿAbbās continued: “The next morning I went to perform ṭawāf around the House, and Abū Jahl ibn Hishām was sitting with a group of Quraysh discussing ʿĀtikah’s dream. When he saw me he said, ‘Abū al-Faḍl, when you finish your circumambulation come over to us.’ When I had finished I came and sat with them.
“Abū Jahl said, ‘O sons of ʿAbd al-Muṭṭalib—[since when has a prophetess arisen among you?]’
“I asked, ‘What do you mean?’
“He replied, ‘That dream which ʿĀtikah saw.’
“I said, ‘And what did she see?’
“He said, ‘O sons of ʿAbd al-Muṭṭalib, is it not enough that your men claim prophethood—now your women claim it as well? ʿĀtikah alleges in her dream that it was said: Set out within three days. We will wait these three days. If what she says is true, it will come to pass; but if the three days pass and nothing happens, we shall write a declaration against you, stating that you are the greatest liars among the Arabs.’
“By Allah,” al-ʿAbbās said, “I could do little more than deny it and insist that she had seen nothing.
“After that we separated. That evening not a single woman of Banū ʿAbd al-Muṭṭalib remained who did not come to me and say, ‘You allowed that wicked reprobate to malign your men, and then he spoke of the women while you listened—have you no sense of honour at what you heard?’
“I said, ‘By Allah, I did respond; there was little more I could do. By Allah, I shall confront him—if he repeats it I will silence him for you.’
“On the third morning after ʿĀtikah’s dream I went out, tense and angry, feeling I had already missed my chance and wishing to catch him. I entered the Mosque and saw him. By Allah, I walked straight toward him, waiting for him to repeat something of what he had said so that I could strike at him. He was a lean man, sharp-featured, sharp-tongued, sharp-eyed.
“Suddenly he rushed toward the gate of the Mosque, running. (6)
“I said to myself, ‘What is wrong with him—may Allah curse him! Is he so afraid of me that he flees from a mere insult?’ Yet in fact he had heard something I had not…"