In another recension the Messenger of God—peace and blessings be upon him—said, “He was all but ready to submit to Islam.”
Yahyā ibn Muḥammad ibn Ṣāʿid said: Ibrāhīm ibn Saʿīd al-Jawharī narrated to us; Abū Usāmah narrated to us; Ḥātim ibn Abī Ṣaghīrah (1) narrated to us, from Simāk ibn Ḥarb, from ʿAmr ibn Nāfiʿ, from al-Shurayd al-Hamdānī—whose maternal uncles belonged to the tribe of Thaqīf—who said:
“We set out with the Messenger of God—peace and blessings be upon him—on the Farewell Pilgrimage. One day, while I was walking, I heard the footfall of a camel behind me; I turned around (2) and there was the Messenger of God—peace and blessings be upon him. He said, ‘Shurayd?’ I replied, ‘Yes.’ He asked, ‘Shall I give you a ride?’ I answered, ‘Yes—though I am not weary (3); I only seek the blessing of riding with the Messenger of God—peace and blessings be upon him.’ He made the camel kneel and mounted me behind him.
“He then asked, ‘Do you have any of the poetry of Umayyah ibn Abī al-Ṣalt?’ I said, ‘Indeed!’ He replied, ‘Recite.’ I did so—he said, I think, a hundred verses. When I had finished, he remarked, ‘The knowledge of Umayyah ibn Abī al-Ṣalt rests with God.’ (4)”
Ibn Ṣāʿid added: “This ḥadīth is gharīb.”
As for the report that the Messenger of God—peace and blessings be upon him—said of Umayyah, “His poetry believed while his heart disbelieved,” I am not acquainted with its chain (5). God knows best.
Imām Aḥmad said (6): ʿAbdullāh ibn Muḥammad—who is Abū Bakr ibn Abī Shaybah—narrated to us; ʿAbdah ibn Sulaymān narrated to us, from Muḥammad ibn Isḥāq, from Yaʿqūb ibn ʿUtbah, from ʿIkrimah, from Ibn ʿAbbās:
“The Messenger of God—peace and blessings be upon him—affirmed Umayyah in part of his poetry. He recited:
From al-Ṭawīl:
‘A man and a bull beneath His right foot stand;
A vulture at the other, and a lion on guard.’ (7)
The Messenger of God—peace and blessings be upon him—said, ‘He has spoken the truth,’ and he continued (8):
From al-Kāmil:
‘Each night before it rises you behold the sun,
Blood-red, until at dawn her hue turns rose-coloured;
She will not emerge upon her measured course for us
Unless chastised—or else, indeed, she is scourged.’ (9)
The Messenger of God—peace and blessings be upon him—then said, ‘He has spoken the truth.’