Sahih al-Bukhari 3989

Musa ibn Ismaʿil narrated to us: Ibrahim narrated to us: Ibn Shihab informed us: ʿUmar ibn Asid ibn Jariya al-Thaqafi, an ally of Banu Zuhra and one of Abu Hurayra’s companions, informed me, from Abu Hurayra (may God be pleased with him), who said: The Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him) sent ten scouts and appointed ʿAsim ibn Thabit al-Ansari over them. He was the grandfather of ʿAsim ibn ʿUmar ibn al-Khattab. When they reached al-Hada, between ʿUsfan and Mecca, news of them reached a clan of Hudhayl called Banu Lihyan. Nearly one hundred archers set out against them and followed their tracks until they found the dates they had eaten at a place where they had camped. They said, “These are the dates of Yathrib.” So they followed their tracks. When ʿAsim and his companions sensed them, they took refuge in a place, and the others surrounded them. They said, “Come down and surrender, and you have our pledge and covenant that we will kill none of you.” ʿAsim ibn Thabit said, “People, as for me, I will not come down under the protection of an unbeliever.” Then he said, “O God, inform Your Prophet about us.” They shot arrows at them and killed ʿAsim. Three men came down to them under the pledge and covenant, among them Khubayb, Zayd ibn al-Dathinna, and another man. Once they had them in their power, they loosened their bowstrings and tied the men with them. The third man said, “This is the first act of treachery. By God, I will not go with you. I have an example in these”—meaning those who had been killed. They dragged him and struggled with him, but he refused to accompany them, so they killed him. They took Khubayb and Zayd ibn al-Dathinna away and sold them after the battle of Badr. The sons of al-Harith ibn ʿAmir ibn Nawfal bought Khubayb, for Khubayb had killed al-Harith ibn ʿAmir on the day of Badr. Khubayb remained their captive until they agreed to kill him. He borrowed a razor from one of al-Harith’s daughters to shave with, and she lent it to him. Her little son crept over to him while she was unaware. She found him with the boy seated on his thigh and the razor in his hand. She said: I was badly frightened, and Khubayb recognized my fear. He said, “Are you afraid I will kill him? I would never do that.” She said: By God, I have never seen a captive better than Khubayb. By God, one day I found him with a bunch of grapes in his hand, eating, while he was shackled in iron, and there was no fruit in Mecca. She used to say, “It was provision that God provided for Khubayb.” When they took him out of the Sacred Precinct to kill him beyond it, Khubayb said to them, “Let me pray two units.” They let him, and he prayed two units. Then he said, “By God, were it not for your thinking that what I am doing is from fear, I would have prayed more.” Then he said, “O God, count them one by one, kill them separately, and leave none of them.” Then he began reciting: “I do not care, when I am killed as a Muslim, on which side my body falls for God. This is for the sake of the Divine, and, if He wills, He may bless the limbs of a torn body.” Then Abu Sirwaʿa ʿUqba ibn al-Harith rose and killed him. Khubayb was the one who established the practice of praying for every Muslim killed while bound for execution. On the day his companions were captured, he informed them of what had happened to them. When some Quraysh learned that ʿAsim ibn Thabit had been killed, they sent people to bring back some identifiable part of him, for he had killed one of their leading men. But God sent ʿAsim something like a canopy of wasps, which protected him from their envoys, and they could not cut anything from him. Kaʿb ibn Malik said: They also mentioned Murara ibn al-Rabiʿ al-ʿAmri and Hilal ibn Umayya al-Waqifi, two righteous men who had witnessed Badr.