—his bishops, too, wept until their codices were drenched (1) when they heard what was being recited (2) to them. The Negus then said, “This and what Moses brought spring from the self-same lamp. Go, for by Allah I shall never hand them over (3) to you—nor even come close to it.”

Umm Salama continued: When we left his presence, ʿAmr ibn al-ʿĀṣ said, “By Allah, tomorrow I will go back to him and disparage them with something that will uproot them completely (4).”

ʿAbd Allah ibn Abī Rabīʿah—he was the more God-fearing of the two—replied, “Do not do that. They are our kin, even if they have opposed us.”

ʿAmr retorted, “By Allah, I will tell him that they claim Jesus son of Mary is merely a servant.”

The next morning he went to the Negus and said, “O King, they make a tremendous assertion about Jesus son of Mary. Summon them and ask them what they say concerning him.” So the Negus sent for them and questioned them about him.

Umm Salama said: Nothing had ever befallen us like this. The companions gathered and asked one another, “What will you say about Jesus when he asks you?” They answered, “By Allah, we will say about him only what Allah has said and what our Prophet has brought, whatever may come of it.”

When they entered upon the Negus he asked them, “What do you say about Jesus son of Mary?”