Military Expeditions led by the Prophet (PBUH) -3

Narrated Abu Huraira (Radi-Allahu 'anhu):

The Prophet (Sallallahu 'Alaihi Wa Sallam) sent a Sariya of spies and
appointed 'Asim bin Thabit, the grandfather of 'Asim bin 'Umar bin
Al-Khattab, as their leader. So they set out, and when they reached (a
place) between 'Usfan and Makkah, they were mentioned to one of the branch
tribes of Bani Hudhail called Lihyan. So, about one-hundred archers
followed their traces till they (i.e. the archers) came to a journey
station where they (i.e. 'Asim and his companions) had encamped and found
stones of dates they had brought as journey food from Medina.

The archers said, "These are the dates of Medina," and followed their
traces till they took them over. When 'Asim and his companions were not
able to go ahead, they went up a high place, and their pursuers encircled
them and said, "You have a covenant and a promise that if you come down to
us, we will not kill anyone of you." 'Asim said, "As for me, I will never
come down on the security of an infidel. O Allah! Inform Your Prophet about
us." So they fought with them till they killed 'Asim along with seven of
his companions with arrows, and there remained Khubaib, Zaid and another
man to whom they gave a promise and a covenant. So when the infidels gave
them the covenant and promise, they came down. When they captured them,
they opened the strings of their arrow bows and tied them with it. The
third man who was with them said, "This is the first breach in the
covenant," and refused to accompany them. They dragged him and tried to
make him accompany them, but he refused, and they killed him. Then they
proceeded on taking Khubaib and Zaid till they sold them in Makkah. The
sons of Al-Harith bin 'Amr bin Naufal bought Khubaib. It was Khubaib who
had killed Al-Harith bin 'Amr on the day of Badr. Khubaib stayed with them
for a while as a captive till they decided unanimously to kill him. (At
that time) Khubaib borrowed a razor from one of the daughters of Al-Harith
to shave his pubic hair. She gave it to him. She said later on, "I was
heedless of a little baby of mine, who moved towards Khubaib, and when it
reached him, he put it on his thigh.

When I saw it, I got scared so much that Khubaib noticed my distress while
he was carrying the razor in his hand. He said 'Are you afraid that I will
kill it? Allah willing, I will never do that,' " Later on she used to say,
"I have never seen a captive better than Khubaib. Once I saw him eating
from a bunch of grapes although at that time no fruits were available at
Makkah, and he was fettered with iron chains, and in fact, it was nothing
but food bestowed upon him by Allah." So they took him out of the Sanctuary
(of Makkah) to kill him. He said, "Allow me to offer a two-Rak'at prayer."
Then he went to them and said, "Had I not been afraid that you would think
I was afraid of death, I would have prayed for a longer time." So it was
Khubaib who first set the tradition of praying two Rakat before being
executed. He then said, "O Allah! Count them one by one," and added, 'When
I am being martyred as a Muslim, I do not care in what way I receive my
death for Allah's Sake, because this death is in Allah's Cause. If He
wishes, He will bless the cut limbs." Then 'Uqba bin Al-Harith got up and
martyred him.

The narrator added: The Quraish (infidels) sent some people to 'Asim in
order to bring a part of his body so that his death might be known for
certain, for 'Asim had killed one of their chiefs on the day of Badr. But
Allah sent a cloud of wasps which protected his body from their messengers
who could not harm his body consequently.

Bukhari Vol. 5 : No. 412

--
Ma'asalaam

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