I met Tanukhi, the envoy sent by Heraclius to the Messenger of Allah ﷺ, at Hims. He was my neighbor, a very old man who had reached extreme old age or was close to it. I said to him, "Will you tell me about the message Heraclius sent to the Prophet ﷺ and the message the Messenger of Allah ﷺ sent to Heraclius?"He replied, "Certainly. The Messenger of Allah ﷺ arrived at Tabuk and dispatched Dihya Kalbi to Heraclius. When the letter from the Messenger of Allah ﷺ reached Heraclius, he summoned the Roman priests and patriarchs, then shut the door on himself and them and said, 'This man has emerged where you have seen, and he has sent to me calling me to one of three options. He calls me to follow him in his religion, or to pay him tribute from our land while the land remains ours, or to face him in war. By Allah, you know full well from what you read in the scriptures that he will take possession of what is beneath my feet. So come, let us follow him in his religion, or let us pay him tribute from our land.'They snorted in unison like a single man, so much so that they burst out of their hooded cloaks and said, 'Are you calling us to abandon Christianity and become slaves to a Bedouin who has come out of the Hijaz?' When he realized that if they left him in that state they would turn the Romans against him, he placated them and barely managed to do so. He said, 'I only said this to you to test the firmness of your commitment to your religion.'Then he summoned a man from the Arab tribe of Tujib who was in charge of the Arab Christians and said, 'Bring me a man with a good memory for what he hears, an Arabic speaker, whom I can send to this man with a reply to his letter.' So he brought me. Heraclius handed me a letter and said, 'Go with my letter to this man. Whatever of his speech you may overlook, remember for me three things in particular. See whether he mentions the letter he wrote to me at all. See, when he reads my letter, whether he mentions the night. And look at his back to see if there is anything on it that strikes you as remarkable.'So I set out with his letter until I reached Tabuk. There he was, sitting among his companions on the ground beside some water, his arms wrapped around his knees. I asked, 'Where is your leader?'They said, 'Here he is.'I walked over and sat down before him and handed him my letter. He placed it in his lap and asked, 'Who are you from?'I said, 'I am from Tanukh.'He said, 'Will you accept Islam, the upright religion of your father Ibrahim?'I said, 'I am the messenger of a people and I follow the religion of a people. I will not turn from it until I return to them.'He laughed and said, "Indeed, you do not guide whom you love, but Allah guides whom He wills, and He knows best those who are guided" [Qasas 28:56]. Then he said, 'Brother of Tanukh, I wrote a letter to Khosrow and he tore it up. By Allah, He will tear him to pieces and tear his kingdom to pieces. I wrote to the Negus on a parchment and he ripped it. By Allah, He will rip him apart and rip his kingdom apart. And I wrote to your master on a parchment and he kept it safe. So people will continue to find harm coming from him as long as there is good in life.'I said to myself, 'This is one of the three things my master charged me to note,' and I took an arrow from my quiver and wrote it on the leather of my scabbard.Then he handed the letter to a man on his left. I asked, 'Who is your master's secretary who reads for you?'They said, 'Muawiya.'In my master's letter was written, 'You call me to a Garden whose breadth is the heavens and the earth, prepared for the righteous. So where is the Fire?'The Messenger of Allah ﷺ said, "Glory be to Allah! Where is the night when the day comes?"So I took an arrow from my quiver and wrote that on the leather of my scabbard. When he had finished reading my letter, he said, "You have a right upon us, and you are an envoy. If we had a gift on hand, we would have honored you with it. But we are travelers with little provision."A man called out to him from a group of the people, "I will provide his gift." He opened his pack and brought out a Safuriyya garment and placed it in my lap. I asked, "Who is the giver of this gift?"I was told, "Uthman."Then the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said, "Which of you will host this man?"A young man from the Ansar said, "I will." The Ansari stood up and I rose with him. When I had walked out from the gathering, the Messenger of Allah ﷺ called out to me, saying, "Come here, brother of Tanukh."I turned and hurried back to him until I was standing in the same spot before him where I had been. He loosened the wrap from around his back and said, "Here. Carry out what you were instructed." So I looked closely at his back, and there was the seal in the place between the folds of his shoulder, like a large cupping mark.
حدثنا إسحاق بن عيسى قال حدثني يحيى بن سليم عن عبد الله بن عثمان بن خثيم
لقيت التنوخي رسول هرقل إلى رسول الله ﷺ بحمص وكان جارا لي شيخا كبيرا قد بلغ الفند أو قرب فقلت ألا تخبرني عن رسالة هرقل إلى النبي ﷺ ورسالة رسول الله ﷺ إلى هرقل فقال بلى قدم رسول الله ﷺ تبوك فبعث دحية الكلبي إلى هرقل فلما أن جاءه كتاب رسول الله ﷺ دعا قسيسي الروم وبطارقتها ثم أغلق عليه وعليهم بابا فقال قد نزل هذا الرجل حيث رأيتم وقد أرسل إلي يدعوني إلى ثلاث خصال يدعوني إلى أن أتبعه على دينه أو على أن نعطيه مالنا على أرضنا والأرض أرضنا أو نلقي إليه الحرب والله لقد عرفتم فيما تقرءون من الكتب ليأخذن ما تحت قدمي فهلم نتبعه على دينه أو نعطيه مالنا على أرضنا فنخروا نخرة رجل واحد حتى خرجوا من برانسهم وقالوا تدعونا إلى أن ندع النصرانية أو نكون عبيدا لأعرابي جاء من الحجاز فلما ظن أنهم إن خرجوا من عنده أفسدوا عليه الروم رفأهم ولم يكد وقال إنما قلت ذلك لكم لأعلم صلابتكم على أمركم ثم دعا رجلا من عرب تجيب كان على نصارى العرب فقال ادع لي رجلا حافظا للحديث عربي اللسان أبعثه إلى هذا الرجل بجواب كتابه فجاء بي فدفع إلي هرقل كتابا فقال اذهب بكتابي إلى هذا الرجل فما ضيعت من حديثه فاحفظ لي منه ثلاث خصال انظر هل يذكر صحيفته التي كتب إلي بشيء وانظر إذا قرأ كتابي فهل يذكر الليل وانظر في ظهره هل به شيء يريبك فانطلقت بكتابه حتى جئت تبوك فإذا هو جالس بين ظهراني أصحابه محتبيا على الماء فقلت أين صاحبكم قيل ها هو ذا فأقبلت أمشي حتى جلست بين يديه فناولته كتابي فوضعه في حجره ثم قال ممن أنت فقلت أنا أحد تنوخ قال هل لك في الإسلام الحنيفية ملة أبيك إبراهيم قلت إني رسول قوم وعلى دين قوم لا أرجع عنه حتى أرجع إليهم فضحك وقال {إنك لا تهدي من أحببت ولكن الله يهدي من يشاء وهو أعلم بالمهتدين} يا أخا تنوخ إني كتبت بكتاب إلى كسرى فمزقه والله ممزقه وممزق ملكه وكتبت إلى النجاشي بصحيفة فخرقها والله مخرقه ومخرق ملكه وكتبت إلى صاحبك بصحيفة فأمسكها فلن يزال الناس يجدون منه بأسا ما دام في العيش خير قلت هذه إحدى الثلاثة التي أوصاني بها صاحبي وأخذت سهما من جعبتي فكتبتها في جلد سيفي ثم إنه ناول الصحيفة رجلا عن يساره قلت من صاحب كتابكم الذي يقرأ لكم قالوا معاوية فإذا في كتاب صاحبي تدعوني إلى جنة عرضها السموات والأرض أعدت للمتقين فأين النار فقال رسول الله ﷺ سبحان الله أين الليل إذا جاء النهار قال فأخذت سهما من جعبتي فكتبته في جلد سيفي فلما أن فرغ من قراءة كتابي قال إن لك حقا وإنك رسول فلو وجدت عندنا جائزة جوزناك بها إنا سفر مرملون قال فناداه رجل من طائفة الناس قال أنا أجوزه ففتح رحله فإذا هو يأتي بحلة صفورية فوضعها في حجري قلت من صاحب الجائزة قيل لي عثمان ثم قال رسول الله ﷺ أيكم ينزل هذا الرجل فقال فتى من الأنصار أنا فقام الأنصاري وقمت معه حتى إذا خرجت من طائفة المجلس ناداني رسول الله ﷺ وقال تعال يا أخا تنوخ فأقبلت أهوي إليه حتى كنت قائما في مجلسي الذي كنت بين يديه فحل حبوته عن ظهره وقال هاهنا امض لما أمرت له فجلت في ظهره فإذا أنا بخاتم في موضع غضون الكتف مثل الحجمة الضخمة