The Life of the Prophet Muhammad by Ibn Kathir - Volume 2 of 4

118 THE LIFE OF THE PROPHET MUHAMMAD
"And shortly thereafter Iyas h. Mu$dh died.
"Mahmad h. Lahid said, 'Some of his tribesmen who were present told me
that they heard h i constantly praising, glorifying and exalting God until he
died. They did not doubt that he had died a Muslim. He had become conscious
of Islam at that assembly when he had heard what the Messenger of God (SAAS)
had to say."'
My own comment is that this occurred on the day of the battle of Buqth, the
name of a site at Medina. A major battle took place there which led to the death
of a large numher of the leaders of the Aws and the Khazraj; few of their prominent
men survived it.
Al-Bukhzri related in his sahib collection, from Whayd h. Ismacil, from Aha
Umma, from Hishm, from his father, from Ck'i'isha, who said, "The battle of
Bu%th was one that God gave to His Messenger. The Messenger of God
(SAAS) came to Medina when their leadership was divided, their elite having
been killed."
Chapter: The commencement of the acceptance ofIslam by the an$=, the "Helpers"
of Medzna, God bless them.
Ihn Ishzq stated, "When God wished to display His religion, exalt His Prophet and
fulfil His promise to hi, the Messenger of God (SAAS) set out in that season of
the pilgrimage in which he met a number of the aqdr. He presented himself to the
Arab tribes as he had been doing in previous seasons. While he was at al-'Aqaha he
met a group of the Khazraj tribe for whom God had good in store.
'"K~im h. Wmar h. Qat%da related to me that some of the leaders of his people
said, 'When the Messenger of God (SAAS) met them he asked them, "Who are
you?" "We are men of al-Khazraj," they replied. "Are you allies of the Jews?" he
asked.
""'Yes," they replied.
""'Would you sit down so that I may talk with you?" he invited them, and
they agreed.
"'So they did sit down and he called them to the path of God, explaining
Islam to them. He also recited the Qur'a to them.
"'One way in which God facilitated their (acceptance) of Islam was that the
Jews were there with them in their country. These were followers of Scriptures
and men of knowledge, though they themselves were polytheists and idol worshippers.
They had previously attacked these Jews in their territories and whenever
dispute had arisen, the latter had told them, "A prophet will now he sent.
His day is coming. We will follow him and give you the same fate as that of the
peoples of 'Ad and Iram."
"'When the Messenger of God (SAAS) addressed these people, and invited
them to God, they told one another, "This has to be the prophet the Jews foresaw;
we should not let them get to hi
first!"