The life of the Prophet Muhammad - Ibn Kathir - volume 2 of 4

IMAM ABU AL-FIDT\' ISMA?L IBN KATH~R 297
i.e. 'pot-belly'. He told me he was Abii al-Kirsh and I charged at him with a
javelin, struck him in the eye and he died."'
"Hisham stated, 'I was informed that al-Zuhayr said, "I put my foot on him
and trod down, only managing to extract it with difficulty for its two blades had
bent over." "'
Wrwa stated, "The Messenger of God (SAAS) asked for it and he gave it
over. When the Messenger of God (SAAS) died, it being still in his possession,
AbU Bakr requested and received it. When Abii Bakr died, 'Umar b. al-Khaftab
requested and received it. When Wmar died, he (al-Zubayr, tr.) took it, but
'Uthrnan requested it and he gave it to him. When Wthmnn was killed, it went
to CAli's family. Then 'Ahd Allah, al-Zuhayr's son, asked for it and had possession
of it until he was killed."
Ibn Hisham stated, "Abii Wbayda related to me, quoting other scholars
learned in the early military engagements, that Wmar b. al-Khamb said to Sacid
b. al-'As as he passed by, 'You seem to me annoyed about something; do you
think I killed your father? If I had, I would not apologize to you for doing so.
However, it was my uncle al-'As b. Hishiim b. al-Mughira whom I killed. I did
pass by your father, but he was acting like a hull scraping the earth with his horn.
So I avoided him and it was his nephew CAli who sought him out and killed him."'
Ihn Ishaq stated, "Wkkasha b. Mihvan b. Hirthan al-Asadi, an ally of the Banii
'Abd Shams, used his sword to fight with at Badr until it broke off in his hand.
He went to the Messenger of God (SAAS) who then gave him a wooden club and
told him, 'fight with this, Wkkasha!'
"When 'Ukkasha took it from the Messenger of God (SAAS) and brandished
it, it turned into a fine, long, white steel sword. He fought using it until God gave
victory to the Muslims. That sword was named al-'awn, 'the helper'; he had it at
all the battles he witnessed with the Messenger of God (SAAS), until ultimately
he was killed by Tulayha al-Asadi, during the wars of apostasy. Tulayha spoke
an ode about this, part of which was,
"The evening I left Ibn 'Aqram lying prostrate, and
Wsha al-Ghanamr on a battle-field."
Tulayha later accepted Islam, as will be related hereafter.
Ibn Ishaq stated, ''CUkksha was he who said, when the Messenger of God
(SAAS), gave his nation the good news that 70,000 of them would enter
heaven without either testing or punishment, 'Pray to God to make me one of
them.' The Prophet (SAAS) then spoke the words, '0 God, make him one of
them!"'
This hadith is given in all the ~ahih, "authentic", and hiszn, "good", collections
of traditions, as well as elsewhere.
Ibn Isbq stated, "The Messenger of God (SAAS) said - so I have been told
- 'We have the finest horseman of all the Arabs.' 'And who is he then?' he was