Conversion of Tufayl ibn Amr al-Dawsi

Tufayl ibn Amr al-Dawsi was the chieftain of Daws, a tribe from Yemen. He came to Makkah to perform umrah at a time when the Prophet ﷺ was still being persecuted there. The Quraysh warned arriving pilgrims about him. They said that one of their own had become "a magician" whose speech could break the bonds between father and son. Tufayl grew so afraid that he stuffed his ears with cotton whenever he went to the Ka'bah, so that he would not hear him ﷺ.

One day the Prophet ﷺ was praying and reciting the Qur'an, and Tufayl heard him despite the cotton. He was deeply moved. He scolded himself for refusing even to listen, since he was an intelligent man who could tell truth from falsehood. He took out the cotton and asked the Prophet ﷺ to let him hear what he had to say. The Prophet ﷺ sat him down, invited him to Islam and recited the Qur'an to him. By some accounts he recited only the last three surahs. Tufayl embraced Islam on the spot.

Tufayl said he would go back and call his tribe to Islam, and he asked the Prophet ﷺ to make du'a for him. The Prophet ﷺ prayed for the guidance of Daws and told Tufayl to be gentle with his people. Some say this du'a was made later, in Madinah. Tufayl was much loved by his tribe. On the day he returned home, his father, mother and wife all accepted Islam. Over time, more than 80 families of Daws embraced Islam at his hands.

While the Prophet ﷺ was still in Makkah, Tufayl offered him refuge in his tribe's fortress in Yemen. The Prophet ﷺ did not accept, because Allah had willed that he emigrate to Yathrib, the city later called Madinah.