- When the news of the death of the Negus came, the Messenger of Allāh (ṣallá Allāhu ʿalayhi wa-sallam) said: "Pray for him." They said: "O Messenger of Allāh! Should we pray for an Abyssinian servant [who is not a Muslim]?" Then Allāh revealed: "And indeed, among the People of the Scripture are those who believe in Allāh and what was revealed to you and what was revealed to them, humbling themselves before Allāh. They do not exchange the verses of Allāh for a small price" (Sūrah Āl ʿImrān, verse 199). It was recorded by al-Nasāʾī in "al-Sunan al-Kubrā" (6/319/11088) through the route of Abū Bakr ibn ʿAyyāsh, and by al-Bazzār in "Musnad" (1/392/832), and by al-Wāḥidī in "Asbāb al-Nuzūl" (p. 104), and by al-Dāraqutnī in "al-Afrād" (vol. 3, no. 36 - my manuscript) through the route of al-Muʿtamir ibn Sulaymān; both from Ḥumayd from Anas. I say: This isnād is authentic. There is another route from Anas, and a corroborating narration from the mursal of Qatādah. As for the route; it is from the narration of Muʾammal ibn Ismāʿīl: Ḥammād ibn Salamah narrated to us from Thābit al-Bunānī from him, who said: When the Negus died, the Prophet (ṣallá Allāhu ʿalayhi wa-sallam) said: "Seek forgiveness for your brother." Some people said: "He commands us to seek forgiveness for him while he died in the land of Abyssinia?!" Then it was revealed... It was recorded by Ibn Abī Ḥātim in "Tafsīr" (2/100/1), and by al-Ṭabarānī in "al-Muʿjam al-Awsaṭ" (1/150/1/2826), and he said: "No one narrated it from Ḥammād except Muʾammal." I say: He is weak due to poor memory, as described by more than one of the ḥadīth scholars