out of fear that the Messenger of Allah might have felt displeasure toward me. I therefore returned to my companions and told them what the Messenger of Allah ﷺ had said. I had sat with them only a short while when I heard Bilāl calling out: “Where is ʿAbd Allāh ibn Qays?” I answered, and he said, “Come, for the Messenger of Allah ﷺ is summoning you.”

When I came before the Messenger of Allah ﷺ he said, “Take these two, and these two, and these two.” He meant six camels that he had just purchased from Saʿd. Then he said, “Take them to your companions and say, ‘Allah— or, he said, the Messenger of Allah— is providing these mounts for you, so ride them.’”

I said to my companions, “The Messenger of Allah ﷺ has given you these mounts, but by Allah I will not let you go until some of you come with me to those who heard the Messenger of Allah ﷺ when I first asked him for mounts on your behalf and he refused me, and then later granted them to me, lest you think I have reported something he did not say.”

They replied, “By Allah, we hold you to be truthful, and we will do whatever you wish.”

Abū Mūsā therefore set off with a group of them until they came to those who had heard the Prophet’s initial refusal and his later grant; they related to them exactly what Abū Mūsā had recounted.

Al-Bukhārī and Muslim both record this account (1) through the chain of Abū Kurayb, from Abū Usāmah. In another version in their two Ṣaḥīḥs (2) Abū Mūsā says:

“I came to the Messenger of Allah with a party of Ashʿarīs asking him to carry us. He said, ‘By Allah, I will not mount you, for I have nothing on which to mount you.’

“Then some seized camels were brought to the Messenger of Allah ﷺ, and he ordered that six sturdy, hump-backed she-camels be given to us, which we took. But we said among ourselves, ‘We have made the Messenger of Allah ﷺ overlook his oath; by Allah, there will be no blessing in this for us.’ So we went back to him, and he said, ‘It was not I who carried you; it was Allah who carried you.’

“He then added, ‘By Allah, whenever I swear an oath and later see that something else is better, I will do what is better and make expiation for the oath.’”

Ibn Isḥāq (3) states: “A number of Muslims, whose resolve faltered, lagged behind the Messenger of Allah ﷺ without harbouring any doubt or hesitation. Among them were Kaʿb ibn Mālik ibn Abī Kaʿb of the Banū Salimah; Murārah ibn Rabīʿ of the Banū ʿAmr ibn ʿAwf; Hilāl ibn Umayyah of the Banū Wāqif; and Abū Khaythamah of the Banū Sālim ibn ʿAwf. They were truthful men whose Islam was never questioned.”

The commentator says: As for the first three, their story will be related in full shortly, God willing. They are the ones concerning whom Allah revealed:

“And [He has forgiven] the three who were left behind—until, when the earth, vast as it is, seemed narrow to them, and their own souls became constricted, and they realized that there is no refuge from Allah except in Him…” (al-Tawbah 9:118).

As for Abū Khaythamah, he turned back and resolved to catch up with the Messenger of Allah ﷺ, as will be mentioned.