Linked coats whose trailing fringes grazed our sandals—
wrought in the weave of David and the house of Muḥarriq.

Abū Dāwūd (1) relates: ʿUmar ibn al-Khaṭṭāb Abū Ḥafṣ told us; al-Firyābī told us; Abān—ʿUmar said, “He is Ibn ʿAbd Allāh ibn Abī Ḥāzim”—told us; ʿUthmān ibn Abī Ḥāzim told us, from his father, from his grandfather Ṣakhr—who is Ibn al-Ghaylah al-Aḥmasī—that the Messenger of God ﷺ campaigned against Thaqīf. When Ṣakhr heard of this, he mounted with a cavalry detachment to reinforce the Prophet ﷺ, but found that he had withdrawn without taking the fortress. Ṣakhr then made a solemn pledge: “I shall not leave this stronghold until they submit to the judgment of the Messenger of God ﷺ.” He kept to them until they did submit.

He wrote to the Prophet ﷺ: “To proceed: Thaqīf has accepted your judgment, O Messenger of God, and I am bringing them to you; they are mounted.” The Messenger of God ﷺ ordered the call to congregational prayer, then invoked ten supplications for Aḥmas:

“O Allah, bless Aḥmas in its horses and its men.”

When the delegation arrived, al-Mughīra ibn Shuʿba said, “O Messenger of God, Ṣakhr has taken my aunt captive, yet she has entered into what the Muslims have entered.”

The Prophet ﷺ summoned Ṣakhr and said,

“O Ṣakhr, once people embrace Islam they secure their blood and their property; hand over al-Mughīra’s aunt to him.”

Ṣakhr complied. He then asked the Messenger of God ﷺ for possession of a watering place belonging to Banū Sulaym, who had fled from Islam and deserted it. He said, “O Messenger of God, grant my people and me that water.” The Prophet ﷺ replied, “Yes,” and Ṣakhr settled there.

Later the Sulamīs accepted Islam, came to Ṣakhr, and requested their watering place, but he refused. They went to the Messenger of God ﷺ and said, “O Messenger of God, we have become Muslims. We asked Ṣakhr to return our water, but he refused.” He said,

“O Ṣakhr, once people embrace Islam they secure their blood and their property; return to them their water.”

Ṣakhr answered, “Yes, O Prophet of God.” I saw the face of the Messenger of God ﷺ turn red at that, out of modesty over Ṣakhr’s taking the woman and the water. Abū Dāwūd alone transmitted this report, and its chain contains discrepancies.

I say: Divine wisdom required that the conquest be deferred that year so that the people would not be annihilated. It has already been mentioned that when the Prophet ﷺ went to al-Ṭāʾif he invited them to God Most High and asked them to shelter him so that he might convey his Lord’s message—this was after the death of his uncle Abū Ṭālib. They rejected his call and belied him. He returned distressed and did not regain his composure until he reached Qarn al-Thaʿālib, where he saw a cloud in which was Gabriel. The Angel of the Mountains called him, saying, “O Muḥammad, your Lord greets you with peace. He has heard your people’s words to you and how they have turned you away. If you wish, I will cause the two mountains to collapse upon them.”

The Messenger of God ﷺ replied:

“Rather, I would wait for them; I hope that God will bring forth from their loins people who worship Him alone, associating nothing with Him.” (2)

Thus his words, “Rather, I would wait for them,” suited the fortress not being opened—so they would not be slain to the last—and the conquest being postponed until they later came as Muslims in Ramadan of the following year, as will be detailed, God willing.