The Hypocrite’s Words and the Young Boy’s Courage
During the expedition to Banu Mustaliq (628 CE), a dispute over a water source broke out between an Ansari (Medinan) and a Muhajir (Meccan emigrant). When it was reported to Abd Allah ibn Ubayy, leader of the Medina hypocrites, he made his contemptuous remark: “When we return to Medina, the honored ones will drive out the lowly ones” — meaning he and his associates would drive out the Prophet and the emigrants.
Zayd ibn Arqam, a young boy who was present, heard this and went immediately to the Prophet to report it.
The response was divided: Umar wanted to have Ibn Ubayy executed; the Prophet declined, saying it would be said that Muhammad killed his own Companions. Then revelation came — Surah al-Munafiqun (63) — confirming Zayd’s report and establishing that even if you ask forgiveness for them seventy times, it will not be granted to the hypocrites.
Ibn Ubayy’s own son, Abd Allah, heard what his father had said. He came to the Prophet and asked: if the Prophet commanded it, he would bring his father’s head. The Prophet declined again. The son then stood at the gate of Medina on their return and held his sword to his father’s face, saying he would not let him pass until he acknowledged that the Prophet was the honored and he himself was the lowly.
The Hadith of Ghadir Khumm
After the Farewell Pilgrimage (632 CE), at a place called Ghadir Khumm between Mecca and Medina, the Prophet gave a speech and reportedly said — in the version narrated by Zayd ibn Arqam and others: “I am leaving among you two weighty things: the Book of Allah and my Ahl al-Bayt… they will not separate from each other until they return to me at the Pool.”
See also: Seerah Ali, Seerah Umar Ibn Khattab, Prophet Muhammad, Understanding Walayah, Seerah Abu Bakr, Hijra