He passed away—a martyr to the throat illness(1). After his death the Prophet ﷺ did not appoint another naqīb over the Banū al-Najjār, declaring, “I am your naqīb.” They took great pride in that(2).

Ibn Isḥāq said: He died while the Prophet ﷺ was still building his mosque, before the Battle of Badr.

Abū al-ʿAbbās ad-Daghlūlī said: It has been reported that he met the Prophet ﷺ in Mecca a year before the First Pledge of al-ʿAqabah, together with five men from the Khazraj, and they all believed in him. When they returned to Medina they spoke of Islam among their people. The following year twelve men set out from them—this was the First Pledge of al-ʿAqabah—and he accompanied them back. The Prophet ﷺ then sent Muṣʿab ibn ʿUmayr to recite the Qur’an to them and instruct them in the religion.

Ibn Isḥāq said: Muḥammad ibn Abī Umāmah ibn Sahl narrated to us from ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Kaʿb ibn Mālik, who said:

“I used to lead my father by the hand after he lost his sight. Whenever I took him to the Friday prayer and he heard the call to prayer, he would invoke blessings upon Abū Umāmah and ask Allah to forgive him.

I said, ‘Father, what makes you seek forgiveness for Abū Umāmah every time you hear the Friday call to prayer?’

He replied, ‘My son, he was the first to gather us for Friday prayer in Medina, at Ḥazm an-Nabīt on the lava field of the Banū Bayāḍah, a place called Naqīʿ al-Khaḍamāt(3).’

I asked, ‘How many were you that day?’

He said, ‘Forty men. Asʿad was foremost among the twelve naqībs, so he was the naqīb of the Banū al-Najjār, and Usayd ibn Ḥuḍayr was the naqīb of the Banū—’