What he sent as a message to a delegation
He told them to carry it back to whoever was behind them.
Say this
آمُرُكُمْ بِأَرْبَعٍ، وَأَنْهَاكُمْ عَنْ أَرْبَعٍ الإِيمَانِ بِاللَّهِ
Āmurukum bi-arbaʿ, wa anhākum ʿan arbaʿ: al-īmāni bi-Llāh
“I command you four things, and I forbid you four. Faith in Allah.”
Where this comes from
The delegation of ʿAbd al-Qays said they could only reach him in the sacred month and asked for something decisive they could carry home. He gave them belief, then explained it as the testimony, the prayer, the zakat, and giving a fifth of what they gained. Then he named four vessels they were to avoid.
The full narration
Narrated Ibn `Abbas:"Once a delegation of `Abdul Qais came to Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) and said, "We belong to such and such branch of the tribe of Rabi'ah and we can only come to you in the sacred months. Order us to do something good so that we may take it from you and also invite to it those whom we have left behind (at home)." So he said, "I order you to do four things and forbid you from four things: To believe in Allah" - and then he explained it to them "to testify that none has the right to be worshipped but Allah and that I am Allah's Messenger (ﷺ), to establish the prayers (at the stated times), to pay the Zakat (obligatory charity), to hand me the Khumus (fifth) if you acquire spoils of war. And I forbid from (using) Dubba, Hantam, Muqaiyyar, and Naqir (all these were utensils used for the preparation of alcoholic drinks)
Source
Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī · 523
- Recorded in Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī, whose narrations are accepted as authentic