“if he were indeed a prophet, the foreleg would inform him, and if he were merely a king, we would at last be rid of him.” He then handed her over to Bishr’s kinsmen, who put her to death, and this is the soundest version of the report.

Abu Hurayrah related a different account: “He did not punish her at all. Rather, the Prophet ﷺ had cupping performed on the base of his neck.” Abu Hind carried out the cupping with a horn and a blade, and the Prophet ordered his Companions to have cupping done on the middles of their heads. He lived for another three years after that.

During his final illness he used to say, “I have continued to feel the pain of that morsel I ate at Khaybar, and now the time has come for my abhar to be severed.” In another wording: “The meal of Khaybar has never ceased to bring me the pain of its poison.” The abhar is a vein in the back. This particular wording is rare, though the substance of the ḥadith is recorded in the Ṣaḥīḥ collections.

Abu al-Aḥwaṣ narrated from Abū Masʿūd, who said, “I would sooner swear by Allah nine times that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ was killed than swear once that he merely died”—meaning that he regarded the Prophet’s death as martyrdom brought about by that poison, for Allah granted him prophethood and also made him a martyr.