bread, at other times bread with clarified butter, and at yet other times dates were scattered before them (1).

When they reached the Mosque they embraced Islam, having left Musaylimah behind at their camp. When they prepared to depart, the Messenger of Allah ﷺ granted them their gifts—five awqiyahs of silver—and, when they mentioned that Musaylimah was still with their baggage, he ordered that Musaylimah receive the same amount. He then said,

“Take note: he is not the worst of you in standing.”

When they returned to Musaylimah they informed him of what the Prophet had said about him. Musaylimah replied, “He said that only because he knows that authority will pass to me after him.” It was on the strength of this single remark—may Allah disgrace him—that he persisted until he finally claimed prophethood.

Al-Wāqidī (2) said: The Messenger of Allah ﷺ had sent with them a water-skin containing the surplus water from his ablution. He instructed them to demolish their church, sprinkle that water over its site, and establish a mosque there, and they did so.

The account of the killing of al-Aswad al-ʿAnsī near the end of the life of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ, the slaying of Musaylimah the arch-liar during the caliphate of al-Ṣiddīq, and the subsequent events involving Banū Ḥanīfah will be mentioned later, Allah willing.

THE DELEGATION OF NAJRĀN

Al-Bukhārī (3) said: ʿAbbās ibn al-Ḥusayn related to us; Yaḥyā ibn Ādam related to us; from Isrāʾīl, from Abū Isḥāq, from Ṣilah ibn Zufar, from Ḥudhayfah, who said:

The ʿĀqib and the Sayyid, the two chiefs of Najrān, came to the Messenger of Allah ﷺ intending to enter into mutual imprecation with him. One of them said to the other, “Do not do it. By Allah, if he is truly a prophet and we invoke a curse (4), neither we nor our descendants after us will ever prosper.”

They then said, “We will give you whatever you have asked of us. Send with us a trustworthy man, and send with us none but a trustworthy man (5).”

He replied, “I will indeed send with you a trustworthy man—truly trustworthy.” The Companions of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ raised their heads in eager expectation. He said (6), “Stand up, Abū ʿUbaydah ibn al-Jarrah.” When he stood, the Messenger of Allah ﷺ declared, “This is the trustworthy one of this community.”

Al-Bukhārī has also transmitted this report, as has Muslim (7), through the narration of Shuʿbah from Abū Isḥāq.

Al-Ḥāfiẓ Abū Bakr al-Bayhaqī (8) said: Abū ʿAbd Allāh al-Ḥāfiẓ and Abū Saʿīd Muḥammad ibn Mūsā ibn al-Faḍl both informed us: Abū al-ʿAbbās Muḥammad ibn Yaʿqūb related to us; Aḥmad ibn ʿAbd al-Jabbār related to us; Yūnus ibn Bukayr related to us, from Salamah ibn ʿAbd (9) Yasūʿ, from his father, from his grandfather—Yūnus added that he had been a Christian and then embraced Islam—that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ wrote to