Al-Bayhaqī (1) transmits—through Ibn Luhayʿah, from Abū al-Aswad, from ʿUrwah—that ʿUyaynah ibn Ḥiṣn asked the Messenger of God ﷺ for permission to visit the people of al-Ṭāʾif and invite them to Islam. The Prophet allowed him to go, so he went and instructed them to remain steadfast inside their fortress, saying, “Do not be shaken by the felling of the trees that have been cut.” After delivering a lengthy address he returned, and the Messenger of God ﷺ asked, “What did you say to them?” ʿUyaynah replied, “I called them to Islam, warned them about Hell, and reminded them of Paradise.” The Prophet said, “You are lying; rather, you said such-and-such.” ʿUyaynah admitted, “You are right, O Messenger of God. I repent to God and to you for that.”

Al-Bayhaqī (2) also reports—via al-Ḥākim, al-Aṣamm, Aḥmad ibn ʿAbd al-Jabbār, Yūnus ibn Bukayr, Hishām al-Dastuwāʾī, Qatādah, Sālim ibn Abī l-Jaʿd, Maʿdān ibn Abī Ṭalḥah—from Abū Najīḥ al-Sulamī (whose name is ʿAmr ibn ʿAbasah, may God be pleased with him):

“We besieged the citadel of al-Ṭāʾif with the Messenger of God ﷺ, and I heard him say, ‘Whoever causes an arrow to reach its mark is granted one rank in Paradise.’ That day I made sixteen arrows reach. I also heard him say, ‘Whoever shoots an arrow in the path of God receives the reward of freeing a slave; whoever’s hair turns gray in the path of God, it will be light for him on the Day of Resurrection. Any man who emancipates a Muslim man—God, glorified and exalted is He, will make every large bone of the freed man a safeguard for each corresponding bone of the emancipator, bone for bone. Likewise, any Muslim woman who emancipates a Muslim woman—God, glorified and exalted is He, will make every bone of the freed woman a protection for every bone of the emancipator against the Fire.’”

Abū Dāwūd, al-Tirmidhī—who declared the report sound—and al-Nasāʾī (3) also related it through the narration of Qatādah.

Al-Bukhārī (4) said: al-Ḥumaydī narrated to us; he heard it from Sufyān; from Hishām, from his father, from Zaynab daughter of Umm Salamah, from Umm Salamah (may God be pleased with her):

“The Messenger of God ﷺ entered my house while an effeminate man (mukhannath) was present. I heard him say to ʿAbd Allāh ibn Abī Umayyah, ‘If God opens al-Ṭāʾif for you tomorrow, take the daughter of Ghaylān, for she approaches on four and retreats on eight.’ The Messenger of God ﷺ then said, ‘Do not allow such people to enter upon you (women).’”

Ibn ʿUyaynah added: Ibn Jurayj said that the effeminate man was Hīt.

Bukhārī and Muslim also recorded this through other chains from Hishām ibn ʿUrwah, from his father (5). One version states, “They regarded him as one of those men without sexual desire.” Another has: The Messenger of God ﷺ said, “Do I not see that this man understands what is here? Do not let such people enter upon you.”

That is, if he grasps such matters, he falls under God’s statement: “or children who are still unaware of women’s private parts” (Qurʾān 24:31). Among the early Muslims, the term mukhannath referred to a man with no inclination toward women, not to the passive partner in sodomy.