138 THE LIFE OF THE PROPHET MUHAMMAD"The Messenger of God (SAAS) stated, 'That was Azabb of al-'Aqaba. He's
the son of Azyab.'"
Ibn Hishm suggested that the name given was "son of Uzayb".
"'Do you hear, 0 enemy of God,' he went on, 'I swear I will destroy you!'
"Then he told them, 'Return to your caravans."'
The account continues, "Al-'Abbas b. Wbxda b. Nadla said, '0 Messenger of
God by Him who sent you with the truth, if you wish tomorrow we will fall on
those at Minn with our swords!'
"The Messenger of God (SAAS) replied, 'We have not been ordered to do
that; however, do go back to your caravans.'
"And so we returned to our beds and slept in them until morning.
"Next morning leaders of Quraysh came to us in our camps and said, '0
Khazraj, we have learned that you have come to this man of ours asking him to
leave us and pledging to fight against us. We swear that there is no Arab group
we would like less to do battle with than you.'
"Those of our people who were polytheists promptly swore that they had no
knowledge of any such thing.
"And they spoke the mth; they knew nothing. We, meanwhile, were
exchanging glances.
"Then Quraysh arose; they included al-HGth b. Hishm b. al-Mughira
al-Makhziimi who was wearing new sandals. I spoke to him as if I wanted to
associate the entire group with what the polytheists had said. Then I said (chang-
ing the subject) ''Abii Jabir, seeing that you are one of our chiefs, can't you get
sandals like those of that young Quraysh fellow?'
"Al~nrith heard this, took off his sandals and hurled them at me, saying, 'By
God, you can put them on!'
"Abn Jabir replied, 'Now easy there; you've annoyed the lad; give him back
his sandals.'
"I replied, 'I swear, I'll not return them. They're a good omen; and if it proves
true, I'll keep the sandals!"'
Ibn Ishxq stated, "'Abd Allnh b. Aba Bakr related to me that they went to
'Abd All& b. Ubayy b. Saliil and said much the same as Ka'b had. He told them,
'This is a very grave matter; my people are not such as to divide over a matter
like this. I have no knowledge of it.' The Quraysh leaders then left.
"The pilgrims then left Minx and some of them investigated the report
further, finding it to have happened. They set about pursuing our people and
caught up with Sa'd b. Wbnda at Adhkhir, along with al-Mundhi b. 'Amr, a
brother from the Bana Sxcida b. Ka'b b. al-Khazraj; both of these were 'leaders'
(i.e. appointed at al-'Aqaba, tr.).
"Al-Mundhir evaded them but they captured Sa'd h. Wbnda and tied his
hands behind his neck with the cords holding his saddle and led him into Mecca,
beating him and pulling him along by his hair which was very full.