When the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, mounted and set out, he was met by Usayd ibn Hudayr, who greeted him with the greeting due to a Prophet and invoked peace upon him. He then said, “O Messenger of Allah, you have set out at an unusual hour, one at which you would not normally depart.”

The Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, said to him, “Has what your companion, Abd Allah ibn Ubayy, said not reached you?” He asked, “And what did he say?” He replied, “He claims that if he returns to Madinah, the mightier will drive out from it the more abased.” Usayd said, “By Allah, O Messenger of Allah, if you wish, you may drive him out. By Allah, he is the abased one, and you are the mighty one.” Then he said, “O Messenger of Allah, be gentle with him. By Allah, Allah has brought you to us while his people were stringing beads for him in order to crown him; he thinks that you have deprived him of a kingdom.”

When Abd Allah ibn Abd Allah ibn Ubayy learned what had taken place concerning his father, he came to the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, and said, “O Messenger of Allah, I have heard that you intend to kill Abd Allah ibn Ubayy because of what has reached you concerning him. If you are going to do so, then command me to deal with him, and I will bring you his head. By Allah, the Khazraj know that there was no man among them more dutiful to his parents than I am. Yet I fear that you may command someone else to kill him, and then my own soul will not allow me to see the killer of Abd Allah ibn Ubayy walking among the people without killing him; thus I would kill a believer in retaliation for a disbeliever and enter the Fire.”

The Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, replied, “Rather, we shall be gentle with him and treat him well for as long as he remains with us.”

They said: The Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, travelled with them throughout that day until evening, and throughout their night until morning, and through the early part of the following day until the sun distressed them. Then he halted with the people (1), and no sooner did they touch the ground than they fell asleep. He did this only to occupy the people from the matter that had occurred the previous day concerning Abd Allah ibn Ubayy.

He then set out with the people until he halted [at a watering place in] the Hijaz (2), a little above al-Naqiʿ, called Naqʿā. A fierce wind arose ⦗166/a⦘ and distressed them, so they feared it. That night, the Prophet’s camel went missing. The Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, said, “Do not be afraid. It has only blown because of the death in Madinah of a prominent one among the leading disbelievers.” He was asked, “Who is he?” He said, “Rifaʿah ibn Zayd ibn al-Tabut.”

One of the hypocrites said, “How can he claim to know the unseen when he does not even know where his camel is? Why does not the one who brings him revelation inform him?” Gabriel then came to him and informed him of what the hypocrite had said and of the camel’s whereabouts. The Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, informed his Companions of this and said, “I do not claim to know the unseen, nor do I know it. Rather, Allah has informed me of what the hypocrite said and of the whereabouts of my camel. It is in the mountain pass, its halter caught on a tree.” They rushed toward the mountain pass and found it exactly as he had said. They brought it back, and that hypocrite then believed.

When they arrived in Madinah, they found that Rifaʿah ibn Zayd ibn al-Tabut had died that very day. He had been one of the leading Jews and a refuge for the hypocrites. When the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, reached Madinah, Zayd ibn Arqam said, “I sat at home