The Messenger of Allah ﷺ was visited by Qays ibn ʿĀṣim, al-Zibrīqān ibn Badr, and ʿAmr ibn al-Ahtam, all three men of Banū Tamīm.
Al-Zibrīqān began to boast: “O Messenger of Allah, I am the chief of Tamīm, the one they obey and to whom they respond. I shield them from injustice and secure their rights—and this man,” referring to ʿAmr ibn al-Ahtam, “knows it.”
ʿAmr ibn al-Ahtam said, “He is strong of temper, staunch in defense, and obeyed by those closest to him.”
Al-Zibrīqān objected, “By Allah, O Messenger of Allah, he knows far more about me than what he has just said. Nothing kept him from speaking out except envy!”
ʿAmr retorted, “I envy you? By Allah, you are a man of ignoble uncles, newly come to wealth, the son of a fool, neglected among your own clan! By Allah, O Messenger of Allah, I spoke truthfully the first time and have not lied the second. I am simply a man who, when pleased, says the best he knows, and when angered, says the worst he can find. In both instances I have spoken the truth.”
The Messenger of Allah ﷺ then remarked, “Surely some eloquence is a kind of magic.”
This chain of transmission is exceedingly rare (1).
Al-Wāqidī relates the reason for their arrival: they had once brandished weapons against the tribe of Khuzāʿah, whereupon the Messenger of Allah ﷺ sent ʿUyainah ibn Ḥiṣn at the head of fifty men—none of them from the Anṣār or the Muhājirūn. Eleven men, eleven women, and thirty children were taken captive, so their chieftains came to negotiate for the prisoners. Some say that ninety, others eighty, men made the journey, among them ʿAṭārid, al-Zibrīqān, Qays ibn ʿĀṣim, Qays ibn al-Ḥārith, Naʿīm ibn Saʿd, al-Aqraʿ ibn Ḥābis, Riyāḥ (2) ibn al-Ḥārith, and ʿAmr ibn al-Ahtam.
They entered the mosque after Bilāl had called the adhān for the noon prayer, while the people were still waiting for the Messenger of Allah ﷺ to come out. These men, however, hurried forward and called out to him from behind the private apartments; concerning them the revelation was sent down.
Al-Wāqidī also names their orator and their poet, and reports that the Prophet ﷺ gave each man twelve uqiyyahs and a nasʾ (3), except ʿAmr ibn al-Ahtam, who received five uqiyyahs because of his youth. Allah knows best.
Ibn Isḥāq (4) states that the Qur’anic verse was revealed about them: “Indeed, those who call out to you from behind the apartments—most of them do not understand. And had they been patient until you came out to them, it would have been better for them; Allah is All-Forgiving, Most Merciful” (al-Ḥujurāt 49:4-5).
Ibn Jarīr (5) reports: Abū ʿAmmār al-Ḥusayn ibn Ḥurayth al-Marwazī (6) told us, saying, “Al-Faḍl ibn Mūsā related to us, from …"