Apostle of God four hundred dinars. ... Ibn Ishaq says: But 'Uthman ibn Huwairith went to Caesar, Emperor of Byzantium: then he became a Christian, and his abiding with him prospered. ... Ibn Ishaq says: But as for Zaid ibn 'Amr ibn Nufail, he remained, and did not enter into Judaism or into Christianity: and he abandoned the religion of his people; therefore he kept aloof from the idols and from carrion and from blood and from the sacrifices which were offered unto the idols, and he forbade the slaughter of infant girls, and he said, ‘I serve the Lord of Abraham’; and he reproved his nation for the faults in which they persisted. Ibn Ishaq says: Hisham ibn 'Urwah has related to me on the authority of his father, on the authority of his mother Asma, daughter of Abu Bakr, that she said, ‘Truly I saw Zaid ibn 'Amr ibn Nufail as a very old man leaning his back against the Ka'bah and saying, ‘O tribe of the Quraish, by Him in whose hand is the soul of Zaid ibn 'Amr, not one of you has attained unto the Religion of Abraham except myself.’ Then he would say, ‘O God, if I knew which manner is most pleasing to Thee, I should worship Thee in it; but I know it not.’ Then he used to worship at his ease ¹. Ibn Ishaq says: And it is related that his son, Su'aid ibn Zaid ibn Amr ibn Nufail, and 'Umar bnu'l Khattab, who was his cousin,

said to the Apostle of God, ‘Pray for forgiveness on behalf of Zaid ibn 'Amr.’ He said, ‘Yes, for verily he shall be raised up by himself as a religious sect.’ Zaid ibn 'Amr ibn Nufail spoke thus in reference to his abandoning the religion of his people and what happened to him from them in consequence:

"One Lord or a thousand Lords
Shall I worship? Are things than partitioned out?
I have abandoned Allat and 'Uzza' altogether:
Thus, doeth the hardy, the patient man.
Therefore I worship neither 'Uzza' nor her two daughters,
Nor do I resort unto the two idols of the Banu 'Amr.
Nor do I worship Ghanam, though he was a Lord to us
At the time when my intellect wandered.
I marvelled: both during the nights are there marvellous things
And during the days, which he that seeth clearly understandeth.
For God hath often destroyed man,
whose condition was immorality.
And others hath he preserved by proving a nation:
Therefore doth He rear up from them the little child.
And among us a man stumbleth: one day he recovereth,
As the branch that drinketh rain is refreshed.
But I Serve as my Lord the Merciful One,
That the forgiving Lord may forgive my sin.
Preserve ye therefore the fear of God, your Lord:
when ye preserve it not, it shall not perish.
Thou shalt see the pure: gardens are their abode:
And for the unbelievers is Hell-fire blazing:
And in life is disgrace, and that they should die:
That with which their breasts shall be oppressed shall they meet ¹.''