ʿAdī al-Tanūkhī transmitted from ʿAmr ibn al-Ḥārith, from Nāʿim ibn Ujayl, from Kaʿb ibn ʿAdī, who said:

“I travelled with a delegation from al-Ḥīrah to the Prophet, ﷺ. He invited us to Islam and we accepted. When we returned to al-Ḥīrah, the news of the Prophet’s ﷺ death soon reached us. My companions wavered and said, ‘Had he been a prophet, he would not have died.’

“I replied, ‘Prophets before him have died,’ and I remained steadfast in my Islam. I then set out for Madinah and along the way passed a monk whose counsel we never dispensed with. I said to him, ‘Inform me about a matter that has occupied my mind, for I still feel some unease.’

“He said, ‘Give me one of the names.’ I gave him the name Kaʿb. He said, ‘Place it in this scroll,’ producing a manuscript. I placed the name inside, he turned its pages, and there was the description of the Prophet ﷺ exactly as I had seen him, together with the statement that he would die at the very time he had died.

“My conviction grew even stronger. I reached Abū Bakr, may Allah be pleased with him, informed him, and stayed with him. He sent me to al-Muqawqas, after which I returned. ʿUmar ibn al-Khaṭṭāb also dispatched me, and I delivered his letter. I arrived to find him on the day of the Battle of Yarmūk, unaware that the battle had taken place.

“He said to me, ‘Do you know that the Romans have killed the Arabs and routed them?’

“I said, ‘No.’

“He asked, ‘Why not?’

“I replied, ‘Allah promised His Prophet ﷺ that He would make him prevail over all religion, and He never breaks His promise.’

“He said, ‘Your Prophet has indeed told you the truth: the Romans have been slain—by Allah, a destruction like that of ʿĀd!’

“Then he asked me about the leading Companions of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ. I told him, and he sent gifts to ʿUmar and to them. Among those he gifted were ʿAlī, ʿAbd al-Raḥmān, and al-Zubayr—and, I believe, al-ʿAbbās as well.

“Before Islam I had been ʿUmar’s partner in the cloth trade, and when the register of stipends was drawn up he assigned me a share with Banū ʿAdī ibn Kaʿb.”

This is an unusual report containing remarkable information, yet it is sound.

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Muḥammad ibn Isḥāq said: When the Messenger of Allah ﷺ passed away, the Arabs apostatized, Judaism and Christianity lifted their heads, hypocrisy surfaced, and the Muslims were like sheep exposed to heavy rain on a cold night because of the loss of their Prophet ﷺ—until Allah gathered them under Abū Bakr, may Allah be pleased with him.

Ibn Hishām said: Abū ʿUbaydah and others of the scholars told me that most of the people of Mecca, when the Messenger of Allah ﷺ died, intended to turn back from Islam and nearly did so. ʿAttāb ibn Usayd, may Allah be pleased with him, feared them and went into hiding. Then Suhayl ibn ʿAmr, may Allah be pleased with him, rose, praised Allah, extolled Him, and mentioned the death of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ, saying, ‘That has only strengthened Islam. Whoever challenges us, we shall strike off his head.’ The people reconsidered and abandoned what they had planned, and ʿAttāb ibn Usayd emerged. This is the very stance the Messenger of Allah ﷺ meant when he said to ʿUmar ibn al-Khaṭṭāb—meaning, when