For had the matter been otherwise, his execution would have been categorically required—as the ḥadīth itself indicates (1) and as Abū Bakr al-Ṣiddīq (may God be pleased with him) in fact carried out.

As for the Prophet’s remark, “She approaches on four and withdraws on eight,” he was alluding to the folds of fat on her belly: when she comes forward they appear as four, and when she turns away each fold divides in two, making eight. The woman concerned is Bādiyah, daughter of Ghaylān ibn Salamah, one of the nobles of Thaqīf.

Al-Bukhārī relates from Ibn Jurayj that the name of that effeminate man was Hīt, which is the most widely accepted opinion. Yūnus, however, transmits from Ibn Isḥāq (2):

“The Messenger of God ﷺ had with him a freedman of his maternal aunt Fakhtah bint ʿAmr ibn ʿĀʾidh—an effeminate man called Mātiʿ. He would enter the apartments of the Prophet’s wives, and no one thought he noticed what ordinary men notice about women, nor that he had any desire for them. The Prophet once heard him say to Khālid ibn al-Walīd, ‘Khālid, if the Messenger of God ﷺ conquers al-Ṭāʾif, do not let Bādiyah daughter of Ghaylān escape you, for she approaches on four and withdraws on eight.’

When the Messenger of God ﷺ overheard this he exclaimed, ‘Do I not see that this man understands such matters?!’ and then ordered his wives, ‘Do not allow such people to enter upon you.’ From that point on he was barred from the Prophet’s household.”

Al-Bukhārī (3) further states: ʿAlī ibn ʿAbd Allāh narrated to us; Sufyān reported from ʿAmr, from Abū al-ʿAbbās—the blind poet—who reported from ʿAbd Allāh ibn ʿAmr:

“When the Messenger of God ﷺ laid siege to al-Ṭāʾif and gained no advantage, he said, ‘Tomorrow, God willing, we shall return.’ This weighed on the Companions, who asked, ‘Shall we depart without having captured it?’ He answered, ‘Go out to battle at dawn.’ They did so and sustained wounds. He then said, ‘Tomorrow, God willing, we shall return.’ They were pleased by that, and the Prophet ﷺ laughed.” Sufyān, in another wording, said: “He smiled.”

Muslim (4) transmitted the same account through Sufyān ibn ʿUyaynah, and in his version the narrator is ʿAbd Allāh ibn ʿUmar ibn al-Khaṭṭāb (5). The manuscripts of al-Bukhārī diverge: one has the chain as just cited, while another lists ʿAbd Allāh ibn ʿAmr ibn al-ʿĀṣ. God knows best.

Al-Wāqidī (6) relates: Kathīr ibn Zayd told me, on the authority of al-Walīd ibn Rabāḥ, from Abū Hurayrah: “After fifteen nights of besieging al-Ṭāʾif, the Messenger of God ﷺ consulted Nufal ibn Muʿāwiyah al-Duʾalī, asking, ‘Nufal, what do you think about remaining here against them?’ He replied, ‘Messenger of God, they are like a fox in its den: stay and you will catch it; leave it and it will not harm you.’”