The Prophet peace be and blessings upon him sent some of his men on an excursion into Najd who captured Thumama b. Uthal, the chieftain
of Banu Hanifa. When the party returned to Madinah, they tied him to a stump in the Prophet’s Mosque.
God’s Messenger peace be and blessings upon him approached him and asked, “What do you expect, Thumama?”
He replied, “If you kill me, Muhammed you will kill one whose blood will be avenged; if you show me a favor, you will show it to one who is grateful; and if you want property, you will be given as much as you wish.”
The Prophet peace be and blessings upon him left him and when he passed by him the next time, he asked him the same question. Thumama repeated his earlier reply and the Prophet peace be and blessings upon him left him again. When the Prophet peace be and blessings upon him passed by him for the third time, he ordered Thumama to be set free.
Thumama went away to a grove of palm‐dates and returned to the Prophet peace be and blessings upon him after taking a bath. He accepted Islam and said to the Prophet peace be and blessings upon him, “I swear to God, Muhammed that there was no face on earth more
detested by me than yours, but now your face is the dearest of all to me. And, I swear to God that there was no religion more hateful to me than yours in the entire world, but now the dearest of all to me. What happened to me is ‘Umra.”
The Prophet peace be and blessings upon him congratulated him and bade him for it.
When Thumama reached Makkah, someone asked him if he had turned a disbeliever. He replied, “No, by God, I swore that not a grain of corn will reach you from Yamamah until God’s Messenger accords permission to it.”
Al‐Yamamah was the chief market of food grains in Arabia from where the Makkahns used to import their requirements. When Thumama went back to Al‐ Yamamah, he prevented the caravans from bringing
wheat to Makkah. So the people of Makkah wrote to the Prophet peace be and blessings upon him requesting him to get the ban lifted. The kindhearted Prophet peace be and blessings upon him asked Thumama to repeal the ban and allow the rationing and supply of food grains back to them.
(Zad al‐Ma’ad, Vol. I, p. 377, Saheeh Muslim, Kitabul‐ Jihad was Siyar)
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