Hisham's narrative, which, it will be noticed, is for the most part founded upon the earlier account given by Ibn Ishaq.

"Ibn Ishaq says: And ¹ the Quraish assembled one day, at a festival which they had, unto one of their idols which they used to magnify, and to which they used to offer sacrifice, and near which they were wont to remain, and around which they were wont to circle. And that was a festival which they kept one day in every year. Therefore four men secretly kept apart from them. Then said they one to another, ‘Be ye true to one another, and let one of you keep another's secret.’ They said, ‘Very good.’ They were Waraqah ibn Asad ²... and Ubaidu'llah ibn Jahsh ²..., whose mother was Umaimah, daughter of 'Abdu'l Muttalab, and Uthman ibnu'l Huwairith ²..., and Zaid ibn 'Amr ... They accordingly said one to another, ‘By God, ye know that your nation is based upon nothing: truly they have erred from the religion of their father Abraham. What is a stone ³ that we should circle round it? It hears not, nor sees, nor injures, nor benefits. O people, seek for yourselves [a faith]; for verily, by God, ye are based upon nothing.’ Accordingly they went into different lands that they might seek Hanifism, the

Religion of Abraham. Waraqah ibn Naufal therefore became absorbed in Christianity, and he inquired after the Books among those who professed it, until he acquired some knowledge from the People of the Book. But Ubaidu'llah ibn Jahsh remained in the state of uncertainty in which he was until he became a Muslim. He then migrated with the Muslims to Abyssinia and with him his wife Umm Habibah, daughter of Abu Sufyan, being a Muslim. When therefore he arrived there, he became a Christian and abandoned Islam, so that he perished there a Christian. Ibn Ishaq says: Accordingly Muhammad ibn Ja'far ibn Zubair has related to me, saying: 'Ubaidu'llah ibn Jahsh, when he became a Christian, used to dispute with the Companions of the Apostle of God who were there in Abyssinia, and he used to say, ‘We see clearly and you are blinking,’ that is, ‘We are clear-sighted and you are seeking to see and do not yet see,’ and that because a whelp blinks when it strives to open its eyes to see. The word he used means to have one's eyes open. Ibn Ishaq says: The Apostle of God succeeded him as husband of Umm Habibah, daughter of Abu Sufyan ibn Harb. Ibn Ishaq says: Muhammad ibn 'Ali ibn Husain has informed me that the Apostle of God sent 'Amr ibn Ummiyah ad Damri to the Negus for her: therefore the Negus betrothed her to him. Accordingly he married him to her. And he fixed as her dowry from the