The Date Stones

Abū Sufyān, on the way, met Budayl ibn Warqāʾ. Who is Budayl? He is the man in Makkah in whose house, as mentioned, the people of Khuzāʿah sought refuge. So Abū Sufyān asked him where he had come from. He said: I have just visited some people of Khuzāʿah on the coast. Budayl ibn Warqāʾ had actually just come back from Madīnah: he too had gone there to tell the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) about what had happened. So the kuffār and the Muslims of Khuzāʿah were going to the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) seeking his assistance and help.

Abū Sufyān was not sure of what Budayl was telling him, and he had suspicions about it. So he waited until Budayl left, and then he went to the place where Budayl's camel had been, and he took some of the camel's droppings and crushed them in his hands, and he found in them crushed date stones. This is something that is fed to camels in Madīnah, because Madīnah is where the date palms are grown; they do not grow in other parts of al-Ḥijāz, such as Makkah, or in the land of Khuzāʿah — and Budayl ibn Warqāʾ had said: I have just come back from visiting the people of Khuzāʿah. So when Abū Sufyān saw the crushed pieces of date stones in the camel's droppings, he said: Budayl has just come back from Madīnah.