"in the name of allâh, the most beneficent, the most merciful.
from muhammad, messenger of allâh to haudha bin ‘ali.
peace be upon him who follows true guidance. be informed that my religion shall prevail everywhere. you should accept islam, and whatever under your command shall remain yours."
the envoy chosen was sulait bin ‘amr al-‘amiri, who after communicating his message, carried back the following reply to the prophet [pbuh]:
"the faith, to which you invite me, is very good. i am a famous orator and poet, the arabs highly respect me and i am of account among them. if you include me in your government, i am prepared to follow you."
the governor then bestowed a reward on sulait and presented him with clothes made of hajr fabric. of course, he put all those presents in the trust of the prophet [pbuh].
the prophet [pbuh] did not accept haudha’s demand. he usually turned down such peremptory tone, and would say that the whole matter was in the hand of allâh, who gave his land to whoever he desired. gabriel later came with the revelation that haudha had died. the prophet [pbuh], in the context of his comment on this news, said: "yamama is bound to give rise to a liar who will arrogate prophethood to himself but he will subsequently be killed." in reply to a question relating to the identity of the killer, the prophet said "it is one of you, followers of islam."[za'd al-ma'ad 3/63]
