The delegation of Thaqif

Six men of Thaqif, led by Abd Yalil ibn Amr, came to Medina in Ramadan 9 AH. They became Muslim on the condition that the Prophet himself undertake the demolition of al-Lat, and he appointed Uthman ibn Abi al-As over them ¹.

Urwa ibn Mas'ud, chief of Thaqif, became Muslim after the Prophet's return from al-Ta'if, and he went back to call his people. They shot him with arrows until they killed him ¹. After his death Thaqif waited for months. Then they concluded they had no strength to fight the Arabs around them, and they resolved to send a delegation. Abd Yalil refused to go unless men went with him, so they became six, among them Uthman ibn Abi al-As, the youngest of them ¹. A tent was pitched for them in one corner of the mosque, so that they could hear the Qur'an and see the people pray ¹. They asked the Prophet to write them a treaty permitting adultery, wine and usury, leaving al-Lat standing, exempting them from prayer, and not requiring them to break their idols with their own hands. He refused all of this ². Finding no way out, they submitted and became Muslim, on the condition that the Prophet undertake the demolition of al-Lat. He accepted, wrote them a document, and appointed Uthman ibn Abi al-As over them because of his eagerness to learn ¹. When they returned home, the delegation hid the truth from their people and showed sorrow. Thaqif took pride for some days, then God put terror into their hearts, and they asked for the terms that had been agreed, and Thaqif became Muslim ³.

Ibn Ishaq relates that Urwa ibn Mas'ud caught up with the Prophet before he reached Medina and became Muslim. He asked to return to his people with Islam. The Prophet said that they would fight him, and he replied: "I am dearer to them than their maidens" ⁴. When he called them to Islam from a high place, they shot him with arrows and killed him. Banu Malik claimed that the killer was Aws ibn Awf, and the Ahlaf claimed it was Wahb ibn Jabir ⁴. Before he died Urwa said: "A dignity God has honoured me with, and a martyrdom He has brought to me. Bury me with the martyrs who were killed with the Prophet." He was buried with them, and the Prophet said of him that his likeness among his people was like the companion of Ya-Sin among his people ⁴.

Thaqif remained for some months after his death, until Amr ibn Umayya advised Abd Yalil that Islam had spread among the Arabs and that they had no strength to fight them ⁵. Abd Yalil set out with a delegation of six: al-Hakam ibn Amr, Sharahbil ibn Ghaylan of the Ahlaf, Uthman ibn Abi al-As, Aws ibn Awf, and Nutayr ibn Kharasha of Banu Malik ⁵. When they halted at Qana, they met al-Mughira ibn Shu'ba, who was herding the Prophet's camels. He left the mounts with them and ran to give the Prophet the good news, but Abu Bakr met him and asked to be the one to bring the news first ⁶.

Among their conditions was that the Prophet let them keep al-Lat for three years without demolishing it; he refused, and they asked for one month, and he refused. They wished to be exempted from prayer and from breaking their idols with their own hands. He exempted them from the breaking and said: "There is no good in a religion without prayer" ^{6 7}. When they had become Muslim and their document had been written, the Prophet appointed Uthman ibn Abi al-As over them, for his zeal to understand Islam and learn the Qur'an, and advised him: "Be lenient in the prayer, and measure people by the weakest among them" ^{7 8}.

Bilal used to bring them the pre-dawn and iftar meals from what they fasted with the Prophet in Ramadan. Khalid ibn Sa'id walked between them and the Prophet and wrote their document by hand. They would not eat any food that came to them from the Prophet until Khalid had eaten from it ⁶.

The Prophet sent Abu Sufyan ibn Harb and al-Mughira ibn Shu'ba to demolish the idol. Abu Sufyan refused to go ahead of al-Mughira, and he stayed with his men at Dhu al-Hadm. Al-Mughira went in and struck the idol with a pickaxe, while the women of Thaqif came out with bare heads, weeping. As al-Mughira struck it with the axe, Abu Sufyan cried: "Woe to me! Woe to me!" When it was demolished, al-Mughira took its wealth and jewellery and sent to Abu Sufyan what he had gathered ⁸. This account is read alongside the entry on the demolition: other reports attribute the demolition to Khalid ibn al-Walid (may God be pleased with him), whereas Ibn Hisham here attributes it to Abu Sufyan and al-Mughira, as in Ibn Ishaq's version. Ibn Hisham says that the women's words "you will weep" come from a source other than Ibn Ishaq ⁸.

Abu Mulayh ibn Urwa and Qarib ibn al-Aswad came before the delegation of Thaqif. They wished to separate themselves from Thaqif and not to join them in anything. They became Muslim. The Prophet said to them: "Take as your allies whomever you wish." They said: "We take God and His Messenger as our allies." He said: "And your maternal uncle Abu Sufyan ibn Harb" ⁸. When the Prophet ordered Abu Sufyan to demolish al-Lat, Abu Mulayh asked that a debt his father owed from the idol's property be settled for him, and he was granted it. Qarib said: "And on behalf of al-Aswad, Messenger of God?" He said: "Al-Aswad died a polytheist." Qarib said: "The debt is mine, and I am the one who claims it." The Prophet then ordered Abu Sufyan to settle the debts of Urwa and al-Aswad from the idol's property ⁹.

Ibn Hisham gives the text of the letter: its thorn-trees, the wadi of Waj and its game are not to be cut down. Whoever is found doing any of that will be flogged and stripped of his clothing. If he persists, he is to be seized and brought to the Prophet. Khalid ibn Sa'id wrote it at the Prophet's command ⁹. "Not to be cut" means not to be felled, and Waj is a place in al-Ta'if ⁹.

• In Urwa's words about the maidens of his people, Ibn Hisham notes a variant reading, "from their sights" ⁴.
• The word "it is said" in Ibn Hisham's phrase "you will weep" is not from Ibn Ishaq ⁸.
• The manuscripts differ over Abd Yalil's words. The text of al-Zurqani reads "for a matter that had been between them", and the printed edition reads otherwise ⁵.
• The killer of Urwa is disputed between Banu Malik and the Ahlaf. Ibn Ishaq reports both sides without preference ⁴.