The Life of the Prophet Muhammad by Ibn Kathir - Volume 3 of 4

IMAM ABU AL-FIDA' ISMA'IL IBN KATHiR
"I'm just one man of my own people." The Messenger of God (SAAS)
then said, "Assemble your people for me in this enclosure and when they are
gathered, let me know." Sa'd then left, called out to them and they assembled in
that enclosure. One of the rnuhzjrrin also came; he was allowed entry and went
in. Others who came were sent away. Eventually all the an@, without exception,
were gathered for hi. Sa'd then went to the Messenger of God (SAAS) and
told him, "Messenger of God, this tribe of an@r are now assembled where you
told me to gather them."
"'The Messenger of God (SAAS) then went and stood among them to address
them. He gave fitting praise and thanks to God and went on to say, "An~zr, did
I not come to you when you were astray, and did not God then guide you? (Were
you not) poor and did God not enrich you? Were you not enemies and did not
God create good will between you?" "Yes," they agreed. The Messenger of God
(SAAS) then asked, "Can you not give me response, 0 aq~r?" They replied,
"What should we say, Messenger of God? How should we answer you? Our
favours are due to God and to His messenger." He replied, "I swear by God, had
you wished you could have said, 'You spoke the truth, again and again.' And
'You came to us an outcast and we sheltered you. You came in distress and we
comforted you. You were fearful and we made you secure, failing and we gave
you aid."' They responded, "Our favours are due to God and to His messenger."
"'The Messenger of God (SAAS) then said, "Do you find within you, 0 angzv,
a lust for those worldly things whereby I reconciled a people who had accepted
Islam, while I entrusted you with that of Islam which God had allotted to you?
Are you resendul, for the others to take sheep and camels to their homes, while
you return with the Messenger of God to yours? I swear by Him who holds my
soul in His hand, that if the people were to follow one mountain defile while the
aqar followed another, I would make my way through the defile of the aqzr.
Had it not been for the hijra, I would have been a man of the anSzr. 0 God, have
mercy on the anSzr, their children and their children's children!"
"'They wept at this until their beards were wet and said, "We are content
with God as our Lord and His messenger as distributor."
"'He then left and they dispersed.'"
Iman Ahmad related it thus from a hadith of Ibn Ishxq. None of the compilers
of the canonical collections gave it with this line of transmission. It is (to be
considered) ~ahih, L'autheutic".
Iman Ahmad related it also from Yahyx h. Bukayr, from al-Fad1 b. Marzuq,
from 'Afiya h. Sa'd albCAwfi, from Abii Sacid al-Khudari, who quoted one of the
aqzy as having said, to his friends, "I swear, I told you, didn't I, that once things
settled down, he would give preference to others over you?" They replied to him
rudely and that reached the Messenger of God (SAAS). He then came to them
and said some things the narrator said he did not recall. They replied, "Yes,
Messenger of God." He told them, "You used not to ride horses" and every time
he said something to them, they replied, "Yes, Messenger of God."