—indeed, all of Islam—he would adjure him concerning every single duty just as he had adjured him about the one before it. When he had finished, he declared:
“I bear witness that there is no god but Allah, and I bear witness that Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah. I shall carry out these obligations and avoid what you have forbidden me; I shall add nothing and omit nothing.” He then returned to his camel and set off for home.

The Messenger of Allah ﷺ remarked: “If the man with the two braids has spoken truthfully, he will enter Paradise.”

Dhamām reached his camel, unfastened its hobble, and traveled on until he came to his people. They gathered around him, and the first words he said were: “How vile are al-Lāt and al-ʿUzzā!”

They cried, “Stop, Dhamām! Beware of leucoderma, beware of leprosy, beware of madness!”

He replied, “Woe to you! By Allah, they can neither harm nor benefit. Allah has sent a Messenger and revealed to him a Book by which He has delivered you from what you were in. I testify that there is no god but Allah alone with no partner, and that Muhammad is His servant and Messenger. I have come to you from him with what he has commanded you and what he has forbidden you.”

By Allah, before nightfall there was not a single man or woman in his settlement who had not embraced Islam. Ibn ʿAbbās used to say, “We have never heard of an envoy of any people who was better than Dhamām ibn Thaʿlaba.”

Imām Aḥmad (1) narrated this through Yaʿqūb ibn Ibrāhīm al-Zuhrī, from his father, from Ibn Isḥāq. Abū Dāwūd (2) likewise transmitted it via Salamah ibn al-Faḍl, from Muḥammad ibn Isḥāq, from Salamah ibn Kuhayl—and Muḥammad ibn al-Walīd ibn Nuwayfiʿ—from Kurayb, from Ibn ʿAbbās, with similar wording. This version indicates that Dhamām returned to his people before the Conquest, for al-ʿUzzā was demolished by Khālid ibn al-Walīd during the Conquest.

Al-Wāqidī (3) said: Abū Bakr ibn ʿAbd Allāh ibn Abī Sabrah narrated to me, from Sharīk ibn ʿAbd Allāh ibn Abī Namir, from Kurayb, from Ibn ʿAbbās, that the Banū Saʿd ibn Bakr dispatched Dhamām ibn Thaʿlaba in Rajab of the fifth year AH. He was a sturdy, hairy man with two long locks, and he came as their envoy to the Messenger of Allah ﷺ. He stood before the Prophet, questioned him sternly—asking who had sent him, why He had sent him, and about the ordinances of Islam—and the Prophet ﷺ answered him fully. Dhamām returned to his people a Muslim, having cast aside all idols. He conveyed what the Prophet had commanded and forbidden, and by that very evening not a single man or woman in his settlement remained without embracing Islam. They built mosques and gave the call to prayer.

Imām Aḥmad (4) also said: Hāshim ibn al-Qāsim related to us, Sulaymān—meaning Ibn al-Mughīrah—related to us, from Thābit, from Anas ibn Mālik who said:
“We had been forbidden to question the Messenger of Allah ﷺ about anything, so we liked it when an intelligent bedouin would come and ask him while we were listening. A bedouin once came and said, ‘O Muhammad, your messenger came to us and claimed that you say Allah has sent you.’ He replied, ‘He has spoken the truth.’ The man asked, ‘Who created the heavens?’ He said, ‘Allah.’ He asked, ‘Then who …’”