I detained him there. The tribes then began to file past, each beneath its banner. Whenever a tribe went by he would ask, “O ʿAbbās, who are these?” I would answer, “Sulaim,” and he would say, “What have I to do with Sulaim?” Another tribe would pass and he would ask, “O ʿAbbās, who are these?” I would reply, “Muzaynah,” and he would say, “What have I to do with Muzaynah?” So it continued: no tribe passed without his asking me about it, and whenever I told him he would remark, “What have I to do with the sons of so-and-so?”

Then the Messenger of Allah ﷺ appeared in his green battalion, composed of the Emigrants and the Helpers, with nothing visible of them but the glint of their eyes beneath iron armor. He exclaimed, “Glory be to Allah! O ʿAbbās, who are these?” I replied, “This is the Messenger of Allah ﷺ with the Emigrants and the Helpers.” He said, “No one can confront these men or withstand them. By Allah, O Abū’l-Faḍl, your nephew’s dominion has become mighty indeed this morning!” I said, “Abū Sufyān, it is prophethood.” He answered, “Then so be it.” I added, “Hurry back to your people.”

When he reached them he cried at the top of his voice, “O people of Quraysh! Muhammad has come upon you with a force you cannot resist. Whoever enters the house of Abū Sufyān will be safe.” Hind bint ʿUtbah rose, seized him by the mustache, and shouted, “Kill this plump, greasy coward—what a wretched vanguard of his people!” Abū Sufyān said, “Woe to you! Do not let this woman delude you; he has brought what you cannot withstand. Whoever enters the house of Abū Sufyān is safe.” They retorted, “May God fight you! What good will your house do for us?” He said, “Whoever closes his own door is safe, and whoever enters the Mosque is safe.” The people then dispersed to their homes and to the Mosque.

ʿUrwah ibn al-Zubayr relates that when the Messenger of Allah ﷺ passed by Abū Sufyān, the latter said, “I see many faces I do not recognize; they have become far too numerous around me.” The Messenger of Allah ﷺ replied, “You and your people caused this. These are the ones who believed me when you denied me, and supported me when you expelled me.”

He then complained about Saʿd ibn ʿUbādah’s words as Saʿd had passed by, saying, “O Abū Sufyān, today is the day of slaughter; today the sanctuary will be violated.” The Messenger of Allah ﷺ said, “Saʿd is mistaken; rather, this is a day on which Allah will exalt the Kaʿbah—a day on which the Kaʿbah will be clothed.”

ʿUrwah also reports that when Abū Sufyān awoke the next morning, after the night he had spent with al-ʿAbbās, and saw the people heading for prayer and spreading out to perform ablution, he became frightened and said to al-ʿAbbās, “What is the matter with them?” He answered, “They have heard the call and are going out to pray.” When the prayer began and he saw them bow when the Prophet bowed and prostrate when he prostrated, he said, “O ʿAbbās, whatever he commands them, they do!” I replied, “Indeed, by Allah, were he to command them to abandon food and drink they would obey.”

Mūsā ibn ʿUqbah narrates from al-Zuhrī (1) that when the Messenger of Allah ﷺ performed ablution, the people crowded around to collect the water. He said, “O ʿAbbās, I have never seen anything like tonight—not even the dominion of Chosroes or Caesar.”

Al-Ḥāfiẓ al-Bayhaqī (2) has transmitted—from al-Ḥākim and others—through al-Aṣamm, from Aḥmad ibn ʿAbd al-Jabbār, from