Musnad Ahmad 17777

Translation

✧ When we returned from the [battle of] the Confederates, from the Trench, I gathered some men of Quraysh who respected my position and would listen to me. I said to them: By God, you know that I consider Muhammad’s affair to be rising over all affairs with a formidable ascendancy, and I have formed an opinion; what do you think of it? They said: And what have you thought? He said: I think we should join the Negus and stay with him. If Muhammad prevails over our people, we will be with the Negus, for it is dearer to us to be under his authority than under Muhammad’s. And if our people prevail, we are those whom they have always known, and only good will come to us from them. They said: This is indeed the right opinion. He said: Then I said to them: Prepare for him what we may send as a gift. The thing he most loved to receive as a gift from our land was tanned leather. So we collected a large amount of tanned leather, then set out until we came to him. By God, while we were with him, ʿAmr b. Umayya al-Ḍamrī arrived, whom the Messenger of God ﷺ had sent to him concerning Jaʿfar and his companions. He entered upon him, then came out from him. I said to my companions: This is ʿAmr b. Umayya. If I enter upon the Negus and ask him for him, and he gives him to me, I will strike his neck. If I do that, Quraysh will see that I have done enough for them by killing the messenger of Muhammad. So I entered upon him, prostrating to him as I used to do. He said: Welcome to my friend! Have you brought me anything from your land? I said: Yes, O king, I have brought you a large amount of tanned leather. Then I presented it to him, and it pleased him and he desired it. Then I said to him: O king, I have seen a man who came out from you, and he is the messenger of a man who is our enemy. Give him to me so that I may kill him, for he has struck down our nobles and our best men. He became angry, then stretched out his hand and struck his own nose so hard that I thought he had broken it. Had the earth split open for me, I would have entered it out of fear of him. Then I said: O king, by God, had I thought you would dislike this, I would not have asked you. He said: Do you ask me to hand over to you the messenger of a man to whom the Great Nāmūs comes—the one who used to come to Moses—so that you may kill him?! I said: O king, is he truly so? He said: Woe to you, ʿAmr! Obey me and follow him, for by God, he is upon the truth, and he will surely prevail over those who oppose him just as Moses prevailed over Pharaoh and his hosts. I said: Will you pledge allegiance to him on my behalf for Islam? He said: Yes. He extended his hand, and I pledged allegiance to him for Islam. Then I went out to my companions, my opinion having changed from what it had been, and I concealed my Islam from them. Then I set out heading for the Messenger of God ﷺ to embrace Islam. I met Khālid b. al-Walīd, and that was shortly before the conquest, while he was coming from Makkah. I said: Where to, O Abū Sulaymān? He said: By God, the way has become clear, and indeed the man is a prophet. I am going, by God, to embrace Islam—until when [should I wait]? I said: By God, I have come only to embrace Islam. So we came to the Messenger of God ﷺ. Khālid b. al-Walīd went forward, embraced Islam, and pledged allegiance. Then I drew near and said: O Messenger of God, I pledge allegiance to you on the condition that you forgive me my past sins, and I do not mention what is to come. The Messenger of God ﷺ said: “O ʿAmr, give your pledge, for Islam wipes out what was before it, and emigration wipes out what was before it.” So I pledged allegiance to him, then departed. Ibn Isḥāq said: And he had...

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