I was in the company of the Prophet ﷺ in the cave, and on seeing the traces of the pagans, I said, "O Messenger of Allah ﷺ If one of them (pagans) should lift up his foot, he will see us." He said, "What do you think of two, the third of whom is Allah?"

كُنْتُ مَعَ النَّبِيِّ ﷺ فِي الْغَارِ فَرَأَيْتُ آثَارَ الْمُشْرِكِينَ قُلْتُ يَا رَسُولَ اللَّهِ لَوْ أَنَّ أَحَدَهُمْ رَفَعَ قَدَمَهُ رَآنَا قَالَ مَا ظَنُّكَ بِاثْنَيْنِ اللَّهُ ثَالِثُهُمَا

When there happened the disagreement between Ibn Az-Zubair and Ibn ʿAbbas, I said (to the latter), "(Why don't you take the oath of allegiance to him as) his father is Az-Zubair, and his mother is Asma,' and his aunt is ʿAisha, and his maternal grandfather is Abu Bakr, and his grandmother is Safiya?"

حَدَّثَنَا فَشَغَلَهُ إِنْسَانٌ وَلَمْ يَقُلِ ابْنُ جُرَيْجٍ

There was a disagreement between them (i.e. Ibn ʿAbbas and Ibn Az-Zubair) so I went to Ibn ʿAbbas in the morning and said (to him), "Do you want to fight against Ibn Zubair and thus make lawful what Allah has made unlawful (i.e. fighting in Meccas?" Ibn ʿAbbas said, "Allah forbid! Allah ordained that Ibn Zubair and Bani Umaiya would permit (fighting in Mecca), but by Allah, I will never regard it as permissible." Ibn ʿAbbas added. "The people asked me to take the oath of allegiance to Ibn AzZubair. I said, 'He is really entitled to assume authority for his father, Az-Zubair was the helper of the Prophet, his (maternal) grandfather, Abu Bakr was (the Prophet's) companion in the cave, his mother, Asma' was 'Dhatun-Nitaq', his aunt, ʿAisha was the mother of the Believers, his paternal aunt, Khadija was the wife of the Prophet ﷺ , and the paternal aunt of the Prophet ﷺ was his grandmother. He himself is pious and chaste in Islam, well versed in the Knowledge of the Qur'an. By Allah! (Really, I left my relatives, Bani Umaiya for his sake though) they are my close relatives, and if they should be my rulers, they are equally apt to be so and are descended from a noble family.

النَّاسُ بَايِعْ لاِبْنِ الزُّبَيْرِ فَقُلْتُ وَأَيْنَ بِهَذَا الأَمْرِ عَنْهُ أَمَّا أَبُوهُ فَحَوَارِيُّ النَّبِيِّ ﷺ يُرِيدُ الزُّبَيْرَ وَأَمَّا جَدُّهُ فَصَاحِبُ الْغَارِ يُرِيدُ أَبَا بَكْرٍ وَأُمُّهُ فَذَاتُ النِّطَاقِ يُرِيدُ أَسْمَاءَ وَأَمَّا خَالَتُهُ فَأُمُّ الْمُؤْمِنِينَ يُرِيدُ عَائِشَةَ وَأَمَّا عَمَّتُهُ فَزَوْجُ النَّبِيِّ ﷺ يُرِيدُ خَدِيجَةَ وَأَمَّا عَمَّةُ النَّبِيِّ ﷺ فَجَدَّتُهُ يُرِيدُ صَفِيَّةَ ثُمَّ عَفِيفٌ فِي الإِسْلاَمِ قَارِئٌ لِلْقُرْآنِ وَاللَّهِ إِنْ وَصَلُونِي وَصَلُونِي مِنْ قَرِيبٍ وَإِنْ رَبُّونِي رَبَّنِي أَكْفَاءٌ كِرَامٌ فَآثَرَ التُّوَيْتَاتِ وَالأُسَامَاتِ وَالْحُمَيْدَاتِ يُرِيدُ أَبْطُنًا مِنْ بَنِي أَسَدٍ بَنِي تُوَيْتٍ وَبَنِي أُسَامَةَ وَبَنِي أَسَدٍ إِنَّ ابْنَ أَبِي الْعَاصِ بَرَزَ يَمْشِي الْقُدَمِيَّةَ يَعْنِي عَبْدَ الْمَلِكِ بْنَ مَرْوَانَ وَإِنَّهُ لَوَّى ذَنَبَهُ يَعْنِي ابْنَ الزُّبَيْرِ

We entered upon Ibn ʿAbbas and he said "Are you not astonished at Ibn Az-Zubair's assuming the caliphate?" I said (to myself), "I will support him and speak of his good traits as I did not do even for Abu Bakr and ʿUmar though they were more entitled to receive al I good than he was." I said "He (i.e Ibn Az-Zubair) is the son of the aunt of the Prophet ﷺ and the son of AzZubair, and the grandson of Abu Bakr and the son of Khadija's brother, and the son of ʿAisha's sister." Nevertheless, he considers himself to be superior to me and does not want me to be one of his friends. So I said, "I never expected that he would refuse my offer to support him, and I don't think he intends to do me any good, therefore, if my cousins should inevitably be my rulers, it will be better for me to be ruled by them than by some others."

أَلاَ تَعْجَبُونَ لاِبْنِ الزُّبَيْرِ قَامَ فِي أَمْرِهِ هَذَا فَقُلْتُ لأُحَاسِبَنَّ نَفْسِي لَهُ مَا حَاسَبْتُهَا لأَبِي بَكْرٍ وَلاَ لِعُمَرَ وَلَهُمَا كَانَا أَوْلَى بِكُلِّ خَيْرٍ مِنْهُ وَقُلْتُ ابْنُ عَمَّةِ النَّبِيِّ ﷺ وَابْنُ الزُّبَيْرِ وَابْنُ أَبِي بَكْرٍ وَابْنُ أَخِي خَدِيجَةَ وَابْنُ أُخْتِ عَائِشَةَ فَإِذَا هُوَ يَتَعَلَّى عَنِّي وَلاَ يُرِيدُ ذَلِكَ فَقُلْتُ مَا كُنْتُ أَظُنُّ أَنِّي أَعْرِضُ هَذَا مِنْ نَفْسِي فَيَدَعُهُ وَمَا أُرَاهُ يُرِيدُ خَيْرًا وَإِنْ كَانَ لاَ بُدَّ لأَنْ يَرُبَّنِي بَنُو عَمِّي أَحَبُّ إِلَىَّ مِنْ أَنْ يَرُبَّنِي غَيْرُهُمْ