148 THE LIFE OF THE PROPHET MUHAMMAD"'He refused my offer, insisting on leaving with them. When that was all he
would do, I said, "Well, if you have to do it, then take this camel of mine. It is a
splendid mount and docile. Keep on her back and if you get suspicious about
them, then escape on her."
"'He then rode off on her with them. Some way along Aba Jahl asked him,
"Say, brother, I find my mount difficult to ride. Would you mind if I rode
behind on yours?" "Sure," he responded. Then he made his camel kneel as the
other two men dismounted to change mounts. But when they were all on the
ground the others ran up at 'Ayyash and tied him up. Then they took him off to
Mecca, subverted him and he apostatized.
"'And,' the narrator Wmar said, 'we used to say, "God will not accept repent-
ance from those who apostatize." And those who apostatized made similar state-
ments about themselves.'
"He went on, 'This was so until the Messenger of God (SAAS) came to
Medina and God revealed, "Say: '0 my servants who have harmed themselves,
do not despair of God's mercy. God will forgive all sins. He is the All-Forgiving,
the All-Merciful. Turn back to your Lord and submit to Him before punish-
ment reaches you; then you shall not be helped. Follow the best that has been
revealed to you from your Lord before punishment comes suddenly to you, and
you are caught unawares.'"' (siirat al-Zumar; XXXIX, v.53-5).
"'Umar went on, 'I wrote this down and sent it on to Hish-m b. alLCA~.
'"Hishb said, "When it reached me I began reading it at Dha Tuwa, hold-
ing it this way and that, but I didn't understand it. Eventually I said, '0 God,
make me understand this!' And God made me realize that it had been sent down
specifically about us and what we used to tell ourselves and what was said about
us."
"'So I went to my camel, mounted it and joined the Messenger of God
(SAAS) in Medina."'
Ibn Hisham recounted that it was al-Walid b. al-Mughira who brought
Hisham b. al-'As and 'Ayyash b. Abii Rabi'a to Medina. He stole them away
from Mecca and brought them on his own mount while he walked beside them.
He stumbled and bloodied his toe, and so spoke the line,
"Are you anything but a toe that bleeds; what happened to you was in God's
cause!"
Al-Bukhari stated, "Abii al-Walid related to us, quoting Shu'ba, quoting Abii
Ishaq who heard al-Bar? say, 'The first to come to us were Mus'ab b. Wmayr
and Ibn Umm Maktiim, and they were followed by 'Amm%r and Bild.'
"Muhammad b. Bashshar related to me, quoting Ghundar quoting Shu'ba,
from Aba Ish2q, who said, 'I heard al-Bar9 b. 'Azib say, "The first to join us
were Mus'ab b. Wmayr and Ibn Umm Maktiim. They would read to the people.
Then came Bild, Sa'd and 'Ammzr b. Y%ir, followed by Wmar b. al-Khatgb
along with 20 of the supporters of the Prophet (SAAS)."