Majma al-Zawaid — Hadith 13887

Sayyiduna Abu Sufyan bin Harb (may Allah be pleased with him) narrates: Umayyah bin Abi al-Salt was with him in Gaza, or in Iliya. When we were coming back, he said: "O Abu Sufyan! Would you like us to go a little ahead of our companions and talk together?" I said: "All right." The narrator says: We did so. He said: "O Abu Sufyan! Which of them are from the family of Utbah bin Rabi'ah?" I said: "These (all) people belong to the family of Utbah." He said: "Is he noble on both his mother's and his father's side, and does he avoid committing wrongs and forbidden deeds?" I replied: "Yes!" He said: "He is a noble, aged man." He said this: "Old age and nobility diminish him." I said to him: "You are wrong; as a man's age increases, his honour keeps increasing." He said: "O Abu Sufyan! This is something I have not heard from anyone; since I adopted Christianity I have not heard anyone say it. Do not be hasty about me; I will tell you." He said: "I found in my books mention of a prophet who would be sent in our Sanctuary. I had supposed, rather I had no doubt about it, that I would be that prophet. But when I held discussions with the people of knowledge, it turned out that he would be from Banu Abd Manaf. I examined Banu Abd Manaf and did not find anyone more suitable for this matter than Utbah bin Rabi'ah. But when you told me about his lineage, I came to know that it is not he either, because his age has passed forty years and revelation has not come down to him." Abu Sufyan says: Then a period of time passed, and then revelation came down to the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him). I set out with some riders of Quraysh to go to Yemen for trade. I passed by Umayyah bin Abi al-Salt and said to him, by way of mocking him: "O Umayyah! The prophet you were waiting for has been sent." He said: "He is true; follow him." I said: "Why do you not follow him?" He said: "I feel ashamed before the women of the Thaqif tribe; I used to tell them that I was that prophet, and then they will see that I have become a follower of a young man from Banu Abd Manaf." Then Umayyah said: "O Abu Sufyan! It seems to me about you as though you will oppose him, and then you will be tied up the way a young goat is tied, until you are brought to him, and he will pass whatever judgement he wishes about you."
Al-Tabarani recorded it; its chain contains a narrator, Mujashi' bin Amr, and he is da'if (weak).