IMAM ABW AL-FID& ISMA?L IBN KATHIR 197greet them as was my custom, hut, I swear, neither so much as looked at me. I
heard my uncle Ahn Yasir ask my father, "Is that he then?" "Yes, I swear by
God," he replied. "You recognize him from his character and description then?"
"I certainly do, I swear it!" he responded. "So how will you relate to him?" he
asked. "With enmity, I swear by God, for as long as I live!""'
Masz h. Wqba recounted, from al-Zuhri, that Aha Y%ir h. Akbah, following
the arrival of the Messenger of God (SAAS) in Medina, went to him, heard him
speak, spoke with him and then returned to his people. He told them, "People,
obey me; God has sent you the one you have been awaiting. Follow hi and do
not oppose him.
"His brother Huyayy h. Akhtah, at that time the leader of the Jews, they both
being of the Bann al-Nadir, then went and sat and listened to the Messenger of
God (SAAS), and returned to his people who were obedient to him. He told
them, 'I come to you from being with a man whom, I swear it, I will for ever
oppose.' His brother, Aha Yasir, answered him, '0 cousin, obey me in this
matter and disobey however you like thereafter without penalty.'
"Huyayy insisted, 'No, by God, I will never obey you!' And so Satan took pos-
session of him and his people followed him in his opinion."
As for Aha Y%ir, whose name was Huyayy h. Akhfab, his fate is unknown
to me. Regarding Huyayy b. Akhtah, the father of Safiyya, he expressed enmity
for the Prophet (SAAS) and his Companions, and continued to do so, God
damn him, until he was executed, hound, before the Messenger of God (SAAS)
on the day the warriors of Bann Qurayqa were killed. As we will relate, if God
wills it.
When, on a Friday, the Messenger of God (SAAS) left QuhP mounted on his
camel al-Qa~wz', it was noon by the time he was in the quarter of the Bann Salim
b. 'Awf. He performed the Friday prayers there with the Muslims in a valley
called Rmnwm'.
This was the first Friday prayer which the Messenger of God (SAAS) per-
formed with the Muslims in Medina, or perhaps the very first time of all. This
is because - though God knows best - it had not been possible for him and his
Companions in Mecca to have any Friday prayers with a sermon and joint open
prayer. The strong opposition to him from the polytheists and the harm they
were doing to him had precluded any such possibility.
An Account of the sermon of the Messenger of God (m) that day.
Ihn Jarir stated, "Ynnus h. 'Ahd al-A'la related to me, quoting Ibn Wahh,
that Sacid b. 'Ahd al-Rahmzn al-Jum&i reported that he was informed that the