At the very start of the day he and his Companions held the field until seven – or nine – of the idolaters’ standard-bearers had been killed. The Muslims then pressed forward toward the mountain. Contrary to what people say, they never reached the Cave; they were only beneath al-Mahrās. At that moment Satan shouted, “Muhammad has been killed!” No one doubted the cry; we remained certain it was true until the Messenger of Allah ﷺ suddenly appeared between the two hillocks. We recognized him by the slight forward sway of his walk. Our joy was such that it was as though none of the calamity that had struck us had ever happened.

He climbed up toward us, repeating, “Allah’s wrath has grown fierce against a people who have bloodied the face of the Messenger of Allah.” On another occasion he declared, “O Allah, it is not for them to rise above us.” When he reached us he stayed for a while.

Just then Abū Sufyān began shouting from the foot of the mountain, twice crying out, “Exalt Hubal!”—meaning his idol—then asking, “Where is the son of Abū Kabshah? Where is the son of Abū Quḥāfah? Where is the son of al-Khaṭṭāb?”

ʿUmar ibn al-Khaṭṭāb asked, “Shall I not answer him?” The Prophet replied, “Yes.” So when Abū Sufyān called, “Exalt Hubal!” ʿUmar retorted, “Allah is higher and more exalted!”

[Abū Sufyān answered, “O son of al-Khaṭṭāb, your eye may rejoice—and then turn away.” Again he demanded, “Where is the son of Abū Kabshah? Where is the son of Abū Quḥāfah? Where is the son of al-Khaṭṭāb?” ʿUmar replied, “Here is the Messenger of Allah ﷺ, here is Abū Bakr, and here I am, ʿUmar.”]

Abū Sufyān declared, “A day to repay the day of Badr. Days alternate, and war goes in cycles.” ʿUmar answered, “They are not the same! Our slain are in Paradise, while yours are in the Fire.” Abū Sufyān said, “That is what you claim; if it is true, then we have indeed lost and failed.”

He added, “You will find some of your dead mutilated, though it was not done with the approval of our nobles.” But then, carried away by pre-Islamic zealotry, he continued, “Still, if it has happened, we do not disapprove of it.”

This report was also transmitted by Ibn Abī Ḥātim, by al-Ḥākim in his Mustadrak, and by al-Bayhaqī in Dalāʾil (through the chain of Sulaymān ibn Dāwūd al-Hāshimī). It is an unusual narration, one of the mursal reports from Ibn ʿAbbās, but it has many corroborating chains. We shall cite of them what Allah makes easy, if He wills; trust is in Him, reliance is upon Him, and He alone is the One whose help is sought.

Al-Bukhārī said: ʿUbayd Allāh ibn Mūsā related to us, from Isrāʾīl, from Abū Isḥāq, from al-Barāʾ who said: On that day we met the idolaters, and the Prophet ﷺ stationed a contingent of archers, putting ʿAbd Allāh ibn Jubayr in command of them. He instructed: “Do not abandon your position; if you see us gaining the upper hand over them, do not leave, and if you see them gaining the upper hand over us, do not come to our aid.”

When we engaged them they fled, and I saw their women running up the mountain with their shins exposed so that their anklets showed. The men began to call out, “Booty! Booty!” ʿAbd Allāh reminded them, “The Prophet ﷺ has pledged me that you are not to leave your post,” but they refused. When they turned away, seventy of us were killed. Then Abū Sufyān appeared and called out, “Is Muhammad among the people?” The Prophet said, “Do not answer him.”