Al-Ṭabarānī said: ʿAlī ibn ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz narrated to us; ʿAbd Allāh ibn Rajāʾ narrated to us; al-Masʿūdī narrated to us, from Nufayl ibn Hishām ibn Saʿīd ibn Zayd, from his father, from his grandfather Saʿīd ibn Zayd, that Zayd ibn ʿAmr and Waraqah ibn Nawfal set out in search of the true religion until they reached a monk in Mosul. The monk asked Zayd, “From where have you come?” He answered, “From the House of Abraham.” The monk said, “What are you seeking?” He replied, “I am seeking the religion.” The monk said, “Return, for the one you are looking for is about to appear in your own land.” Zayd turned back, reciting, “At Your service, truly, truly—devotion and servitude.” (1)

Ibn Qutaybah said in his book Al-Aʿlām (2): Yazīd ibn ʿAmr told me; al-ʿAlāʾ ibn al-Faḍl narrated to us; my father narrated to me, from his father ʿAbd al-Malik ibn Abī Suwayyah, from Abī Suwayyah, from his father Khalīfah ibn ʿAbdah al-Minqarī: I asked Muḥammad ibn ʿAdiyy, “How did your father ʿAdiyy (3) come to name you Muḥammad?” He replied, “I once questioned my father about exactly what you have asked me. He said: ‘Four of us from Banū Tamīm set out—I was one of them, along with Mujāshiʿ ibn Dārim, Yazīd ibn ʿAmr ibn Rabīʿah, and Usāmah ibn Mālik ibn Jundub—seeking Ibn Jafnah (4) al-Ghassānī. When we reached Syria, we stopped beside a small pool shaded by a few trees, and there was a monk nearby who looked out at us and said, “This language is not the language of the people of this land.” We said, “Indeed, we are a people from Muḍar.”’”