Saʿd ibn Muʿādh and the Breakthrough Within al-Aws

Saʿd ibn Muʿādh asked what had happened. Usayd ibn Ḥuḍayr said: "Everything is fine, do not worry about it — there is a slight problem, however: Banū al-Ḥārith want to kill Asʿad ibn Zurārah, because they know he is your cousin." (Asʿad ibn Zurārah is the man with Muṣʿab ibn ʿUmayr, and he is the cousin of Saʿd ibn Muʿādh — Banū al-Ḥārith, a branch of al-Khazraj, want to kill Asʿad ibn Zurārah because he is your relative.) This was made up: the whole story was not true, and the whole reason it was made up was that Usayd ibn Ḥuḍayr wanted Saʿd ibn Muʿādh to go and meet Muṣʿab ibn ʿUmayr. Saʿd ibn Muʿādh stood up, angry, saying, "They want to kill my cousin," picked up his spear, and said, "You have not done me any good" as he set off.

He arrived with anger on his face, carrying his spear. Muṣʿab ibn ʿUmayr saw him coming, and Asʿad ibn Zurārah told him: "This is the leader of his people — do the best you can, I will look after you." Saʿd ibn Muʿādh took one look at the gathering and realised that the story Usayd ibn Ḥuḍayr had reported was fabricated: there was no sign of terror, no sign that a plot against Asʿad ibn Zurārah's life was underway, for they would have been acting differently. He understood that Usayd ibn Ḥuḍayr had invented the story simply to bring him to see what was happening. Saʿd ibn Muʿādh said to Asʿad ibn Zurārah: "Why are you doing this to me? Why are you bringing this man to my territory? You are taking advantage of your relationship with me — you want to mislead the ignorant and the weak among us." Muṣʿab ibn ʿUmayr responded: "Why not sit down and hear what I have to say? If you like it, you may accept it; if you do not, you may reject it." Saʿd ibn Muʿādh agreed and sat down.

The people of Madīnah were open-minded in this way, without the sense of hostility that existed in Makkah — they were willing to listen. So Saʿd ibn Muʿādh sat down. Muṣʿab ibn ʿUmayr, the choice of the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) for this mission — Subḥānallāh — had the ḥikmah, the wisdom, of a dāʿiyah, one who preaches Islam, and he began giving Saʿd ibn Muʿādh the message. As Asʿad ibn Zurārah said, it could already be read in his face that he wanted to become Muslim.

When the conversation finished, Saʿd ibn Muʿādh accepted Islam. His first action was to go to his people and ask: "What is your opinion of me?" They said: "You are the wisest among us, and you are our leader." Saʿd ibn Muʿādh said: "None of you will speak to me, and I will not speak to any of you, until you become Muslim." By the end of that evening, every house among Banū ʿAbd al-Ashhal was Muslim — the whole clan, a branch of al-Aws. So now a huge breakthrough was made within al-Aws: now there were both al-Aws and al-Khazraj.