THE ENCOUNTER OF ‘AMR IBN AL-‘AS WITH NAJASHI AND HIS ACCEPTANCE OF ISLAM
‘Amr Ibn Al-‘As, may Allah be pleased with him, narrated: When we departed on the day of Ahzab from the Trenches, I gathered some men among the Quraish who usually shared my opinion and lent their ears to me and I said to them, “You all know that by Allah, the matter of Muhammad is gaining the upper hand in a most hateful manner and right now, I am nursing a thought and I would like to know your opinion on it.” “What is your thought?” they asked and I said, “I think we should go to Najashi and stay with him. If Muhammad eventually prevails over our people, we will remain with Najashi for to remain under his authority is far more beloving than to remain under the rule of Muhammad. However, if it is our people that eventually prevail, we are already well known to them, so nothing will come to us from them except good.” They responded, “This is indeed a brilliant suggestion.” So I said, “Let us gather presents for him and the best souvenir to present to him from our land is leather.”
So we gathered a large quantity of leather and we proceeded till we arrived in his presence. By Allah, we were still with him when ‘Amr Ibn Umayyah Ad-Damri, may Allah be pleased with him, came to him on an errand from the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, concerning Ja‘afar and his companions. He went in to see Najashi and came out. So I said to my companions, “This is Amr bin Umayyah, once I enter the presence of Najashi I shall ask him to hand him over to me so that I may chop off his neck. Once I have done that, the Quraish will be gratified that I have taken revenge on their behalf with the killing of Muhammad’s messenger.
So I entered his presence and prostrated to him as I used to do. He said, “Welcome, my friend. Have you brought any present for me from your land?” I said, “Yes, O king, I have brought for you a large quantity of leather.” So I presented it to him and he marveled at its beauty and loved it. Then I said to him: “O king, I have seen a man coming out of your palace, he is a messenger for a man who is our enemy, hand him over to me so that I may kill him. He has killed a number of our noblemen and elites.”
The narrator added: Then he (Najashi) became extremely angry. He stretched his hand and hit his nose so violently that I thought he had broken it. At that time, if the ground had cleaved I would have entered it in flight from him. Then I said, “O king, by Allah, had I thought you would detest that, I would not have requested you to hand him over to me.” Then he said, “Do you ask me to hand over to you the messenger of a man who is visited by the same great Namoos that visited Moosa for you to kill?”
Then I said, “O king, is he truly as you have said?” He replied, “Woe be unto you, O Amr, obey me and follow him, for by Allah he is upon the truth. Moreover, he will prevail over whoever opposes him just as Moosa bin Imran prevailed over Fir‘awn and his army.” Then I said, “Will you then take my allegiance to him upon Islam on his behalf?” He obliged and then stretched out his hand and I pledged allegiance to him upon Islam and thereafter, I took my leave and returned to my companions after my mind had changed from its previous thought. I hid my acceptance of Islam from my companions.
Thereafter, I decided to go to Allah’s Messenger, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, to formally proclaim Islam at his hands. On the way, I met Khalid Ibn al-Waleed, may Allah be pleased with him, on his way out of Makkah and that was just shortly before the Conquest (of Makkah). So I said, “Where to, O Abu Sulaiman?” He said, “By Allah, the sign has become evident that the man is indeed a Prophet, so, by Allah, I am going to declare my Islam.” I said, “By Allah, I also came for no other purpose then to accept Islam.”
So we both arrived at the presence of the Prophet, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, in Madinah and Khalid Ibn Al-Waleed, may Allah be pleased with him, stepped forward and declared his acceptance of Islam and pledged his allegiance. Then I also moved close to the Prophet, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, and said, “O Messenger of Allah, I will pledge my allegiance to you upon the condition that you forgive all that has preceded my sins and I do not mention the later ones.” Then Allah’s Messenger, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, said: “O ‘Amr, pledge your allegiance, for Islam obliterates all (sins) that came before it.”
‘Amr, may Allah be pleased with him, continued, “Then I pledged allegiance and thereafter I departed.” Ibn Ishaq related: I have been informed from impeccable sources that ‘Uthman Ibn Talhah Ibn Abi Talhah, may Allah be pleased with him, was with both of them.
I say: Their acceptance of Islam occurred after the Treaty of Al-Hudaybiyah and at the time, Khalid Ibn Al-Waleed, may Allah be pleased with him, was with the Calvary of the Mushrikeen as shall be elucidated in due course. The mentioning of his acceptance of Islam thereafter flows better. We only mentioned it in following Imam Muhammad Ibn Ishaq, may Allah have Mercy on him, because the first time ‘Amr Ibn Al-‘As, may Allah be pleased with him, went to Najashi was after the Battle of Khandaq. Obviously, he went within the last five years. And Allah knows best.
By: Ibn Katheer
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