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

IMAM ABD AL-FIDA> ISMA?L IBN KATH~R
"Tell Ubayy that his opinion is wrong; he died the
morning of the (meeting in) the delile, hut death does wme,
May God deny what your soul craves; He watches over
man's affairs, seeing and hearing.
And inform Abii Sufym that, through Ahmad, there has
appeared to us a shining light of God's guidance.
Do not wvet acquiring something you want; just take and
gather whatever it is you receive.
Take care! Know that breaking vows with us was forbidden
you by the group when they gave allegiance.
Both al-Bars' and Ibn 'Amr forbad it, and AsLad and &fiC
too forbid it.
Sa'd al-Sn'idi forbad it, and Mundhir would cut off your
nose if you tried it.
And Ibn Rabi: if you received his pledge, would not give him
up. Let no one expect that.
Similarly Ibn Raw*a would not give him to you; to
protect him he would even take poison.
Al-Qpwqali b. S ~ too is t far removed from what you try
to achieve, living up to the promise he made.
Aba al-Haytham also is true to his pledge, secure in the
oath he had made.
And you should have no hopes of Ibn Hndayr for what you
want; perhaps you should abandon your foolish error.
And Sa'd, brother of 'Amr b. 'Awf, is far removed and
opposed m what it is you want.
These are not stars that will arise in the dark of night
and repel bad luck from you."
Ibn H ish stated, "Abii al-Haytham is mentioned here among these men,
whereas Rifx'a is not"
My own comment is that the poet also mentions Sa'd b. MuMh who was
definitely not one of the leaders of the gathering that night.
Ya'qiib b. Sufym recounted, from Yiinus b. 'Abd alLCA'la, from Ibn Wahb, from
Mdik who said, "The apar on the night of al-'Aqaba were 70 men; their leaders
were twelve in number, nine from Khauaj, three from Aws.
"An spar elder told me that Gabriel was indicating to the Messenger of God
(SAAS) which of these men he should appoint as leaders on that night of
alLCAqaba, and Usayd b. HuQayr was one of those leaders."
Al-Bayhaqi related this.
Ibn Islpq stated, "'Abd Alhh b. Aba Bakr related to me that the Messenger
of God (SAAS) said to these leaders, 'You shall be those entrusted for your
people just as the apostles were for Jesus, son of Mary. I shall be entrusted with
my own people.' They replied, 'So be it.'