from Anas:
He entered upon his brother al-Barāʾ while the latter was singing, and said, “Are you singing?”
Al-Barāʾ answered, “Do you fear that I will die in my bed after I have personally slain ninety-nine idolaters in single combat, not counting those I helped the Muslims kill? (1)”
In another version he said, “My brother! Are you chanting poetry when Allah has replaced it for you with the Quran?”
Hammād ibn Salamah said: Thābit related, on the authority of Anas, who said:
“I went in to al-Barāʾ while he was singing and humming along as he twanged his bowstring. I asked, ‘How long will this go on?’ He replied, ‘Do you think I will die in my bed? By Allah, I have killed more than ninety men. (2)’ ”
Ibn ʿAwn narrated from Muḥammad, who said:
“Al-Barāʾ challenged the marzban of al-Zārah (3) to single combat, pierced him with his spear, brought him down, and took his spoils (4).”
He was martyred on the day Tustar was opened, in the year 20 AH.
(1) The chain of transmission is weak because Abu Sahl himself is unreliable. Al-Hakim nevertheless recorded the report (3/291) via ʿAbd Allah b. ʿAwf – Thumama b. Anas – Anas, declared it authentic, and al-Dhahabi endorsed his judgement. Ibn Hajar cites it in al-Isaba 1/236 from al-Baghawi, likewise judging the isnad sound. Abu Nuʿaym also relates it in Hilyat al-awliyaʾ 1/350 through ʿAbd al-Razzaq – Maʿmar – Ayyub – Ibn Sirin – Anas b. Malik. See further: al-Istiʿab 1/285.
(2) The narration appears in Ibn Saʿd’s al-Tabaqat, 7/1/10, with an authentic chain.
(3) The second wording has al-zar. ʿAyn al-Zarah in Bahrain is well known; Zarah itself is a large village there. The “Marzban of Zarah,” mentioned in the accounts of the early conquests, came from this locality. Zarah was taken in 12 AH, during the caliphate of Abu Bakr al-Siddiq, and its people concluded a peace treaty. See: Yaqut, Muʿjam al-buldan 3/126; al-Tabari; Ibn al-Athir, al-Kamil; and Ibn Kathir, al-Bidaya, under the events of the year 12 AH.
(4) See Ibn al-Athir, Usd al-ghabah 1/206.