IMAM ABU AL-FID& ISMA?L IBN KATHIRThe eyes show you with suspicious glances what spite and
hatred he conceals.
"Feather" me welt; for long you have weakened me; the
best allies are those who "feather" without weakening.'
"Having heard of him, the Messenger of God (SAAS) went to see him and
invited him to God and to Islam. Suwayd replied, 'Perhaps what you have is like
what I have.'
"'What is it you have?' asked the Messenger of God (SAAS).
"'The majaMa of Luqman,' he replied. By this word he meant the 'wisdom' of
Luqman.
"'Present it to me,' the Messenger of God (SAAS) asked, and when Suwayd
had done so, he commented, 'These words are fine. But what I have is better - a
Qur'an that God has sent down to me to be a guide and a light.'
"The Messenger of God (SAAS) then recited the Qur'an to him and invited
him into Islam. Suwayd did not draw away, hut said, 'Those words were won-
derful.'
"Suwayd then left and later came to Medina with his tribe. Shortly thereafter
he was killed by the Khazraj tribe, though some of his own people say that he was
a Muslim at the time of his death. His killing occurred before the battle at Bu%th."
Al-Bayhaqi related this, from al-H&im, from al-Asamm from Ahmad b. 'Abd
al-Jabbar, from Yiinus b. Bukayr, from Ibn Ishaq, in a shorter form.
THE ACCEPTANCE OF ISLAM BY IYZS B. MUcADHIbn Ishzq stated that Al-Hu~ayn h. 'Abd al-Rabman h. 'Amr b. Saw b. Mu5dh
related to him, from Mahiid b. Lahid, saying, "When Aha al-Haysar, Anas b.
&fit came to Mecca, accompanied by other men of the Bana 'Abd al-Ashhal,
including Iys b. Mu%dh, seeking a pact with Quraysh against the Khazraj tribe,
the Messenger of God (SAAS) heard of their coming and went to them. He sat
down among them and asked, 'Would you like something better than what it was
you came for?' 'What would that he?' they asked.
"He replied, 'I am the Messenger of God to all mankind. And I invite them to
worship God and to associate none other with Him. 'And,' he told them, 'the
book has been revealed to me.' He then told them of Islam and recited the
@r'xn to them."
The account goes on, "Iyas h. Mu'adh, who was a young man, spoke up, say-
ing, 'My people, I swear this is better than what you came for.'
"Aba al-Haysar Anas b. ='then took up a handful of dirt from the river bed
and threw it into the face of Iyxs b. Mu'adh, saying, 'Clear off! We came for
something different.'
"Iys remained silent, and the Messenger of God (SAAS) left them, and they
returned into Medina. The battle of Bu'ath was between the Aws and the
Khazraj tribes.