Imām Aḥmad, Abū Dāwūd, and Ibn Mājah (1) relate—through the narration of ʿAbd Allāh ibn ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Yaʿlā al-Ṭāʾifī, from ʿUthmān ibn ʿAbd Allāh ibn Aws, from his grandfather Aws ibn Ḥudhayfah—who said:

“We came to the Messenger of Allah ﷺ as part of the Thaqīf delegation. The sub-tribe of al-Aḥlāf was lodged with al-Mughīrah ibn Shuʿbah, while the Messenger of Allah ﷺ hosted Banū Mālik in his own pavilion. Every night, after the ʿIshāʾ prayer, he would come to us and address us while standing, until he would shift his weight from one leg to the other because of the length of his standing. Most of what he told us concerned what he had suffered at the hands of his people, Quraysh. Then he would say:

‘I shall never forget: we were weak and despised in Mecca; but when we left for Medina the fighting between us and them became a seesaw—sometimes we prevailed over them and sometimes they prevailed over us.’

“One night he was later than usual, so we said, ‘You are late tonight.’ He replied:

‘My daily portion of the Qurʾān came upon me, and I disliked coming until I had completed it.’

Aws continues: “I asked the Companions of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ, ‘How do you divide the Qurʾān into portions (aḥzāb)?’ They said, ‘Three, five, seven, nine, eleven, thirteen, and the ḥizb of al-Mufaṣṣal (2) by itself.’” This is the wording of Abū Dāwūd.

Ibn Isḥāq (3) reports: When the delegation had concluded their affairs and headed home, the Messenger of Allah ﷺ sent Abū Sufyān ibn Ḥarb and al-Mughīrah ibn Shuʿbah with them to demolish al-Ṭāghiyah, their idol. The two accompanied the group, and when they reached al-Ṭāʾif al-Mughīrah wanted Abū Sufyān to go in first, but Abū Sufyān refused, saying, “You go in to your own people.” Abū Sufyān remained with his property at Dhū al-Harm, while al-Mughīrah entered the town, mounted the idol, and struck it with a pick-axe. His clan, Banū Maʿtib, stood guard around him, fearing he might be shot or harmed as ʿUrwah ibn Masʿūd had been. The women of Thaqīf came out bare-headed, weeping over the idol and chanting:

‘Surely Difāʿ shall be mourned!
The sucklings have forsaken her;
They handled the assault poorly.’

Ibn Isḥāq (4) adds: As Abū Sufyān and al-Mughīrah were striking the idol with the axe they cried, “Alas for your ruin!” When al-Mughīrah had demolished it and taken its money and ornaments, he sent word to Abū Sufyān: “The Messenger of Allah ﷺ has ordered us to pay, from the idol’s treasure, the debts of ʿUrwah ibn Masʿūd and his brother al-Aswad ibn Masʿūd, the father of Qārib ibn al-Aswad.” Their debts were accordingly settled.

I (the author) say: al-Aswad had died a polytheist, yet the Messenger of Allah ﷺ ordered this as an act of conciliation and honor toward his son Qārib ibn al-Aswad—may Allah be pleased with him.

Mūsā ibn ʿUqbah (5) relates that the Thaqīf delegation numbered a dozen or so men. When they arrived, the Messenger of Allah ﷺ lodged them in the mosque so they might listen to the Qurʾān. They asked him about usury, fornication, and wine, and he forbade all of it. They then asked him about al-Rabbah and what he intended to do with it