Three days later al-ʿAbbās went to al-Ḥajjāj’s wife and asked, “What has become of your husband?” She told him that he had left on such-and-such a day, adding, “May Allah spare you grief, Abū al-Faḍl; the news you received has weighed heavily on us as well.”

He replied, “Indeed—may Allah never let me grieve. By Allah’s grace nothing has happened except what we wished for: Allah has granted His Messenger victory over Khaybar, the shares of booty have been distributed, and the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, has chosen Ṣafiyyah for himself. If you have any need of your husband, then go and join him.”

She said, “By Allah, I think you are telling the truth.” He answered, “I most certainly am, and matters stand exactly as I have informed you.”

He then went on until he reached the gatherings of Quraysh. Whenever he passed by, they would say, “Nothing but good will befall you, Abū al-Faḍl.” He would reply, “Nothing but good has come to me, praise be to Allah. Al-Ḥajjāj ibn ʿIlāṭ has informed me that Allah has opened Khaybar for His Messenger, that the lots have been cast, and that he has chosen Ṣafiyyah for himself. He asked me to keep the matter secret for three days; he came only to collect his property and whatever he owns here, and then to leave.”

Thus Allah shifted the gloom that had burdened the Muslims onto the idolaters. The Muslims—those who had even withdrawn to their houses in sorrow—came out and gathered around al-ʿAbbās; he conveyed the news to them, they rejoiced, and Allah redirected every trace of grief, anger, and sadness onto the idolaters.

This chain of transmission meets the criteria of the two Shaykhs, yet none of the authors of the Six Books recorded it except al-Nasāʾī(1), who narrated it through Isḥāq ibn Ibrāhīm from ʿAbd al-Razzāq with similar wording. Al-Ḥāfiẓ al-Bayhaqī(2) also transmitted it via Maḥmūd ibn Ghaylān from ʿAbd al-Razzāq, and likewise(3) through Yaʿqūb ibn Sufyān from Zayd ibn al-Mubārak from Muḥammad ibn Thawr from Maʿmar, in comparable form.

Mūsā ibn ʿUqbah likewise reports in his Maghāzī(4) that the people of Quraysh entered into large wagers and mutual pacts: some asserted, “Muhammad and his Companions will prevail,” while others claimed, “The two allies and the Jews of Khaybar will triumph.” Al-Ḥajjāj ibn ʿIlāṭ al-Sulamī—later affiliated with Banū Bahz—had already embraced Islam and was present with the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, at the conquest of Khaybar. He was married to Umm Shaybah, the sister of [the clan of] ʿAbd al-Dār ibn Quṣayy, and possessed considerable wealth, including mines in the territory of Banū Sulaym. When the Messenger of Allah conquered Khaybar, al-Ḥajjāj asked permission to go to Mecca to collect his assets; the Messenger of Allah granted it, and events unfolded as related above. Allah knows best.

Ibn Isḥāq(5) adds: Among the poetry composed about the Khaybar campaign are these lines by Ḥassān(6), in the khafīf metre: