Yūnus ibn Bukayr transmitted from Ibn Isḥāq, who said: al-Ḥusayn ibn ʿAbd Allāh ibn ʿUbayd Allāh ibn ʿAbbās related to me, from ʿIkrimah, from Ibn ʿAbbās. He then recounted this episode in its entirety, exactly as Ziyād al-Bakkaʾī narrated it from Ibn Isḥāq, though with a broken chain. Allah knows best.

Al-Bayhaqī (1) likewise transmitted—through Abū Bilāl al-Ashʿarī, from Ziyād al-Bakkaʾī, from Muḥammad ibn Isḥāq, from al-Zuhrī, from ʿUbayd Allāh, from Ibn ʿAbbās—who said:

Al-ʿAbbās brought Abū Sufyān to the Messenger of Allah ﷺ and told the whole story, adding only that Abū Sufyān embraced Islam that very night, before daybreak, in the presence of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ. When the Prophet ﷺ said to him,

“Whoever enters the house of Abū Sufyān is safe,”

Abū Sufyān objected, “My house is far too small!”

He ﷺ replied,

“Whoever enters the Kaʿbah is safe.”

Abū Sufyān said, “The Kaʿbah will not contain them all.”

He ﷺ said,

“Whoever enters the Mosque is safe.”

Abū Sufyān responded, “Even the Mosque is not large enough.”

He ﷺ then said,

“Whoever shuts his door upon himself is safe.”

Abū Sufyān exclaimed, “That is broad enough.”

Al-Bukhārī (2) records: ʿUbayd ibn Ismāʿīl narrated to us, Abū Usāmah narrated to us, from Hishām, from his father, who said:

When the Messenger of Allah ﷺ set out in the Year of the Conquest and word reached Quraysh, Abū Sufyān ibn Ḥarb, Ḥakīm ibn Ḥizām, and Budayl ibn Warqāʾ went out to gather news about the Messenger of Allah ﷺ. They travelled on until they reached Marr al-Ẓahrān, where they saw campfires that looked like the fires of ʿArafah.

Abū Sufyān said, “What are these? They look like the fires of ʿArafah!” Budayl replied, “They belong to Banū ʿAmr.” Abū Sufyān retorted, “ʿAmr’s clan is far too small for that.”

Some men from the Prophet’s guard spotted them, overtook them, seized them, and brought them to the Messenger of Allah ﷺ, whereupon Abū Sufyān accepted Islam. When the Prophet ﷺ resumed the march he said to al-ʿAbbās,

“Detain Abū Sufyān at the mountain pass so that he may watch the Muslims go by.”

So al-ʿAbbās held him there. The tribes then began to pass with the Messenger of Allah ﷺ, battalion after battalion, in front of Abū Sufyān. When a battalion passed he would ask, “O ʿAbbās, who are these?” He answered, “Ghifār.” Abū Sufyān said, “What have I to do with Ghifār?” Then Juhaynah passed and he said the same; then Saʿd ibn Huthaym passed and he said the same; then Sulaym passed and he said the same.

At length a battalion the like of which he had never seen came forward. He asked, “Who are these?” He replied, “These are the Helpers (Anṣār); their standard-bearer is Saʿd ibn ʿUbādah.”

Saʿd ibn ʿUbādah called out, “O Abū Sufyān, today is the day of slaughter; today the Kaʿbah will be violated!”

Abū Sufyān said, “O ʿAbbās, what a splendid day of vengeance!”

Then came a battalion smaller than the rest, in which was the Messenger of Allah ﷺ and his Companions; the Prophet’s banner was carried by al-Zubayr ibn al-ʿAwwām.

When the Messenger of Allah ﷺ passed by Abū Sufyān he asked, “Did you hear what Saʿd ibn ʿUbādah said?”

“What did he say?” Abū Sufyān asked. The Prophet ﷺ told him, whereupon he 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.”

The Messenger of Allah ﷺ then ordered that his banner be planted at al-Ḥajūn.

ʿUrwah said: Nāfiʿ ibn Jubayr ibn Muṭʿim told me that he heard al-ʿAbbās say to al-Zubayr ibn al-ʿAwwām, “Is this the spot where the Messenger of Allah ﷺ ordered you to plant the banner?” He replied, “Yes.”

He also related that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ commanded Khālid ibn al-Walīd to enter Mecca from the upper pass of Kadāʾ, while the Messenger of Allah ﷺ himself entered from Kudāʾ. Two men from Khālid’s cavalry were killed that day: Ḥubaysh ibn al-Ashʿar and Kurz ibn Jābir al-Fihri.