the grave plot they were hiding, and hurried off until they melted into the crowd. Ḥudhayfah then caught up with the Messenger of Allah ﷺ. He told the two of them to quicken their pace, so they pressed on until they had cleared the mountain pass, then they stopped and waited for the people.

The Messenger of Allah ﷺ said to Ḥudhayfah,
“Did you recognise those men?”
He replied, “I recognised only their mounts in the darkness when I met them.”

He then asked,
“Do you two know what those riders were up to?”
They answered, “No.” He thereupon informed them of the scheme they had conspired to carry out, named each of them, and bound the two to secrecy.

They said, “Messenger of Allah, will you not order that they be killed?”
He replied,
“I dislike that people should say Muhammad kills his own companions.”

Ibn Isḥāq records this incident, adding that the Prophet ﷺ disclosed their names only to Ḥudhayfah ibn al-Yamān; this is the view that seems most plausible, and Allah knows best. Supporting it is what Abū al-Dardāʾ said to ʿAlqamah, the companion of Ibn Masʿūd: “Is there not among you—the people of Kūfah—the keeper of the inkwell and cushion?” meaning Ibn Masʿūd; “Is there not among you the keeper of the secret that none but he knows?” meaning Ḥudhayfah; “Is there not among you the one whom Allah protected from Satan through the tongue of Muhammad ﷺ?” meaning ʿAmmār.

We also narrate that the Commander of the Believers ʿUmar ibn al-Khaṭṭāb, may Allah be pleased with him, said to Ḥudhayfah, “I adjure you by Allah, am I among them?” He replied, “No—and after you I will exonerate no one,” so as not to divulge the Prophet’s secret ﷺ.

I say: They were fourteen men—though some say they were twelve.

Ibn Isḥāq reports that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ sent Ḥudhayfah ibn al-Yamān to summon them. When he had gathered them, the Messenger of Allah ﷺ informed them of what they had done and of the plot they had agreed upon. Ibn Isḥāq then listed their names and said that regarding them Allah the Exalted revealed: “They intended what they could not attain” [al-Tawbah: 74].

Al-Bayhaqī (1) relates—through Muḥammad ibn Salamah, from Ibn Isḥāq, from al-Aʿmash, from ʿAmr ibn Murrah, from Abū al-Bakhtarī—on the authority of Ḥudhayfah ibn al-Yamān who said:
“I was holding the halter of the Messenger of Allah’s she-camel, leading it, while ʿAmmār was driving it—or I was driving and ʿAmmār was leading—when, at the mountain pass, I suddenly saw twelve riders blocking the way. I roused the Messenger of Allah ﷺ, and he shouted at them; they turned and fled. The Messenger of Allah ﷺ then said to us, ‘Did you recognise the men?’ We said, ‘No, Messenger of Allah; their faces were veiled, but we recognised their mounts.’ He said, ‘These are the hypocrites until the Day of Resurrection. Do you know what they wanted?’ We said, ‘No.’ He said, ‘They wanted to jostle the Messenger of Allah on the pass and throw him from it.’

“We said, ‘Messenger of Allah, will you not send word to their tribes so that each tribe brings you the head of its man?’ He said, ‘No. I dislike that the Arabs should say: Muhammad fought alongside a people, and when Allah granted him victory through them he turned on them and killed them.’ He then said, ‘O Allah, strike them with the dubaylah.’

“We asked, ‘Messenger of Allah, what is the dubaylah?’ He said, ‘A flaming brand of fire that descends upon the sinews of the heart of one of them and destroys him.’”