until the following morning, when he came back to him and said, “What do you have, O Thumamah?” He replied, “I have the very same answer I already gave you: if you show favor, you show favor to a grateful man; if you kill, you kill a man whose blood will be avenged; and if you want wealth, ask and you will be given whatever you wish.” The Messenger of Allah ﷺ then said, “Release Thumamah.”
Thumamah went to a stand of date-palms near the mosque, performed ghusl (a full ritual washing), then returned to the mosque and proclaimed, “I testify that there is no god but Allah and I testify that Muhammad is His servant and messenger. By Allah, O Muhammad—there was no face on earth more hateful to me than yours, yet now your face has become the dearest of all faces to me. By Allah, there was no religion more hateful to me than yours, yet now your religion has become the most beloved of all religions to me. By Allah, there was no land more hateful to me than yours, yet now your land has become the most beloved of all lands to me. Your cavalry seized me while I was heading for ʿumrah; what is your view (i.e., what should I do)?”
The Messenger of Allah ﷺ gave him glad tidings and instructed him to go ahead and perform ʿumrah. When he reached Mecca, someone said to him, “Have you abandoned your old religion?” He replied, “No; rather, I have submitted together with the Messenger of Allah ﷺ. And, by Allah, not a single grain of wheat will reach you from al-Yamamah until the Messenger of Allah ﷺ allows it.”
This hadith was recorded by al-Bukhari and Muslim—the present wording is Muslim’s—as well as by Abu Dawud and al-Bayhaqi, though the last two did not cite it in full. Ahmad also transmitted it, through Layth ibn Saʿd who said, “Saʿid informed me that he heard it from Abu Hurayrah.” All of the added phrases occur in Muslim and Ahmad except the second addition, which is found only in Ahmad. The second and third versions are reported by him and by al-Bukhari as well.
In Muslim’s collection, ʿAbd al-Hamid ibn Jaʿfar likewise corroborated this report; he related it from Saʿid ibn Abi Saʿid with similar wording.