Musnad Ahmad 541:17

Ya'qub ibn Ibrahim narrated to us, he said: My father narrated to us, from Ibn Ishaq, he said: Yazid ibn Abi Habib narrated to me, from Rashid, the freed slave of Habib ibn Abi Aws al-Thaqafi, from Habib ibn Abi Aws, he said: 'Amr ibn al-'As narrated to me from his own mouth, he said: When we returned from the Confederates (al-Ahzab) at the Trench, I gathered men from Quraysh who used to recognize my status and listen to me, and I said to them: "You know, by Allah, that I see the affair of Muhammad rising above all other affairs with a great rise. I have formed an opinion, so what do you think of it?" They said: "And what is your opinion?" He said: "I see that we should join the Negus and stay with him. If Muhammad prevails over our people, we will be with the Negus, for being under his authority is more beloved to us than being under the authority of Muhammad. And if our people prevail, then we are whom they have known, so nothing will come to us from them but good." They said: "This is indeed the opinion." He said: I said to them: "Then gather for him what we may present as a gift to him." The most beloved thing to him from our land was leather, so we gathered a great deal of leather for him. We set out until we arrived at him. By Allah, while we were with him, 'Amr ibn Umayyah al-Damri arrived, and the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) had sent him to him regarding Ja'far and his companions. He said: He entered upon him and then came out from him. I said to my companions: "This is 'Amr ibn Umayyah. If I were to enter upon the Negus and ask him for him, and he gave him to me, I would strike off his head. If I did that, Quraysh would see that I had served them well by killing the messenger of Muhammad." He said: So I entered upon him and prostrated to him as I used to do. He said: "Welcome, my friend. Have you brought me a gift from your land?" I said: "Yes, O King, I have brought you much leather." He said: Then I presented it to him, and he was pleased with it and desired it. Then I said to him: "O King, I saw a man who came out from you, and he is the messenger of a man who is an enemy to us. Give him to me so that I may kill him, for he has harmed our nobles and our best men." He said: He became angry, then he stretched out his hand and struck his own nose with a blow that I thought had broken it. If the earth had split open for me, I would have entered into it out of fear of him. Then I said: "O King, by Allah, if I had thought that you would dislike this, I would not have asked you for it." He said: "Do you ask me to give you the messenger of a man to whom the Great Law (al-Namus al-Akbar) comes, which used to come to Moses, so that you may kill him?" I said: "O King, is it really like that?" He said: "Woe to you, O 'Amr! Obey me and follow him, for by Allah, he is upon the truth, and he will surely prevail over those who oppose him, just as Moses prevailed over Pharaoh and his soldiers." I said: "Then pledge allegiance to me for Islam." He said: "Yes." He stretched out his hand, and I pledged allegiance to him for Islam. Then I went out to my companions, and my opinion had changed from what it had been, and I concealed my Islam from my companions. Then I set out, intending to go to the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) to embrace Islam. I met Khalid ibn al-Walid, and that was shortly before the Conquest (of Makkah), and he was coming from Makkah. I said: "Where to, O Abu Sulayman?" He said: "By Allah, the path has become clear, and the man is indeed a Prophet. I am going, by Allah, to embrace Islam. How much longer?" I said: "By Allah, I have only come to embrace Islam." He said: We arrived at the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him). Khalid ibn al-Walid went forward, embraced Islam, and pledged allegiance. Then I drew near and said: "O Messenger of Allah, I pledge allegiance to you on the condition that what has passed of my sins be forgiven, and I will not mention what has passed or what is to come." The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said: "O 'Amr, pledge allegiance, for Islam wipes away what came before it, and the Hijrah wipes away what came before it." He said: So I pledged allegiance to him, then I departed. Ibn Ishaq said: "Someone whom I do not accuse has told me that 'Uthman ibn Talhah ibn Abi Talhah was with them and embraced Islam when they embraced Islam."