I was with ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib in the cavalry force with which the Messenger of Allah ﷺ had sent him to Yemen. ʿAlī treated me somewhat coolly, and I felt resentment toward him. When I reached Madinah I complained about him in the city’s gatherings and to everyone I met. One day I entered while the Messenger of Allah ﷺ was sitting in the mosque. When he caught my eye he fixed his gaze on me until I sat down beside him. No sooner had I done so than he said,

“By Allah, O ʿAmr ibn Shās, you have hurt me!”

I exclaimed, “We belong to Allah and to Him we return! I seek refuge in Allah and in Islam from ever causing harm to the Messenger of Allah.”

He replied,

“Whoever harms ʿAlī has harmed me.”

Al-Bayhaqī (1) also transmitted this report through another route—from Ibn Isḥāq, from Abān, from al-Faḍl ibn Muʿqil ibn Sinān, from ʿAbd Allāh ibn Niyār, from his maternal uncle ʿAmr ibn Shās—with similar wording (2).

Al-Ḥāfiẓ al-Bayhaqī (3) said: Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd Allāh al-Ḥāfiẓ informed us; Abū Isḥāq al-Muzakkī (4) informed us [and Abū ʿAbd Allāh Aḥmad ibn ʿAlī al-Jawzajānī informed us]; (5) Abū ʿUbaydah ibn Abī al-Safar narrated to us, saying: I heard Ibrāhīm ibn Yūsuf ibn Abī Isḥāq, from his father, from Abū Isḥāq, from al-Barāʾ:

The Messenger of Allah ﷺ dispatched Khālid ibn al-Walīd to the people of Yemen, calling them to Islam. Al-Barāʾ said: I was among those who went out with Khālid, and we stayed six months while he invited them to Islam, but they did not respond. Then the Messenger of Allah ﷺ sent ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib and ordered him to relieve Khālid; anyone who had been with Khālid and wished to remain with ʿAlī was free to do so.

Al-Barāʾ continued: I was among those who stayed on with ʿAlī. When we drew near to the people they came out to meet us. ʿAlī led us in prayer, then we formed a single rank. He stepped forward, read aloud the letter of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ, and all of the tribe of Hamdān embraced Islam. ʿAlī wrote to the Messenger of Allah ﷺ informing him of their conversion.

When the Messenger of Allah ﷺ read the letter he fell in prostration, then raised his head and said,

“Peace be upon Hamdān, peace be upon Hamdān.”

Al-Bayhaqī (6) said: al-Bukhārī narrated it in abridged form through another chain from Ibrāhīm ibn Yūsuf (7).

Al-Bayhaqī (8) also said: Abū al-Ḥusayn Muḥammad ibn [al-Ḥusayn ibn Muḥammad ibn] al-Faḍl al-Qaṭṭān informed us, and