Should he plunge ahead with the banner and call out,
“O defenders of the banner, bearers of the banner!”
then Quraysh, upon the open flats, will surely become
but a patch of earth in the slave-girls’ hands.
He is an unsheathed sword that seeks a resolute decision,
silent—like a deaf serpent.

When the Messenger of Allah ﷺ heard these verses, mercy and compassion for the Quraysh stirred within him. He ordered that the standard be taken from Saʿd ibn ʿUbādah and handed to his son, Qays ibn Saʿd.

It is related that the Prophet ﷺ did not wish to disappoint the woman who had appealed to him, nor did he wish to anger Saʿd; therefore he removed the banner from Saʿd and gave it to his son.

Ibn Isḥāq (1) reports that Ibn Abī Najīḥ, in his narration, stated that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ commanded Khālid ibn al-Walīd to enter Mecca from al-Līṭ, the lower side of the city, with part of the force. Khālid led the right wing, which included the clans of Aslam, Sulaym, Ghifār, Muzaynah, Juhaynah, and a number of other Arab tribes. Abū ʿUbaydah ibn al-Jarrah advanced with a column of Muslims, converging on Mecca ahead of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ. The Prophet ﷺ himself entered from Adhākhir and halted at the upper part of Mecca, where a pavilion was pitched for him.

Al-Bukhārī (2) narrates—through al-Zuhrī, from ʿAlī ibn al-Ḥusayn, from ʿAmr ibn ʿUthmān, from Usāmah ibn Zayd—that during the Conquest Usāmah said, “Messenger of Allah, where will you stay tomorrow?” He replied, “Has ʿAqīl left us any house at all?” and then added, “A believer does not inherit from an unbeliever, nor an unbeliever from a believer.”

Al-Bukhārī (3) also reports: Abū al-Yamān related to us; Shuʿayb related to us; Abū al-Zinād narrated from ʿAbd al-Raḥmān, from Abū Salamah, from Abū Hurayrah, that the Prophet ﷺ said, “Our encampment—if Allah grants the victory—will, God willing, be at al-Khayf, where they once swore together upon disbelief.”

Imām Aḥmad (4) transmits—through Yūnus, from Ibrāhīm ibn Saʿd, from al-Zuhrī, from Abū Salamah, from Abū Hurayrah—that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said, “Our encampment tomorrow, God willing, will be at Khayf Banī Kinānah, where they pledged themselves to disbelief.” Al-Bukhārī (5) narrates the same meaning via Ibrāhīm ibn Saʿd.

Ibn Isḥāq (6) further relates: ʿAbd Allāh ibn Abī Najīḥ and ʿAbd Allāh ibn Abī Bakr told me that Ṣafwān ibn Umayyah, ʿIkrimah ibn Abī Jahl, and Suhayl ibn ʿAmr had gathered a band of men at al-Khandamah to fight. Ḥimās ibn Qays ibn Khālid, of Banū Bakr, was preparing and repairing weapons before the arrival of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ. His wife said to him, “Why …”