Ma'bad al-Khuza'i

Maʿbad al-Khuzāʿī was a respected nobleman of the tribe of Khuzāʿah, still a pagan at the time of Uḥud (3 AH), though sympathetic to the Muslims, Khuzāʿah held a long-standing alliance with the Prophet (ﷺ) predating Islam. Passing through Madinah shortly after the battle, he visited the Prophet (ﷺ) to offer his condolences, telling him he was grieved by what the Quraysh had done and wished the outcome had gone the other way. On his way onward he encountered Abū Sufyān's returning army, still debating whether to turn back and finish off the Muslims. Trusted as a neutral outsider, Maʿbad was asked for news of Madinah, and, without revealing anything the Prophet (ﷺ) had told him, he described the Muslims as enraged and mobilizing for revenge. This account, matching fears already raised within the Qurayshi camp, persuaded Abū Sufyān to abandon any plan to return and press the retreat back to Mecca instead.