He died after the assassination of ʿUthmān, leaving descendants behind (1).
73 – Muʿawwidh ibn al-Ḥārith ibn Rifāʿah al-Anṣārī *
A son of ʿAfrāʾ, and the father of al-Rubayyiʿ bint Muʿawwidh and her sister ʿUmayrah.
According to Ibn Isḥāq alone, he attended the Pledge of ʿAqabah with the seventy.
He is the one said to have struck Abū Jahl, together with his brother ʿAwf, until they left him severely wounded. Abū Jahl then turned on them and killed them both; he himself collapsed, and Ibn Masʿūd delivered the finishing blow (2).
On that day Muʿawwidh and ʿAwf (3) were standing in the battle line beside ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn ʿAwf. They said to him, “Uncle, can you point out Abū Jahl to us? We have heard that he harms the Messenger of Allah ﷺ.” He showed them where he was, and the two of them charged at him together.
74 – ʿAwf ibn al-Ḥārith ibn Rifāʿah al-Anṣārī **
A son of ʿAfrāʾ.
(1) Ibn Saʿd, vol. 3, p. 492; al-Istiʿab, vol. 10, p. 118.
(*) Ibn Saʿd, al-Tabaqat, vol. 3, p. 492; Khalifa, al-Tabaqat, p. 90; Khalifa, Tarikh, p. 61; Ibn Qutayba, al-Maʿarif, p. 597; al-Istibsar, p. 66; Ibn ʿAbd al-Barr, al-Istiʿab, vol. 4, p. 1442; Ibn al-Athir, Usd al-Ghaba, vol. 5, p. 240; Ibn Hajar, al-Isaba, vol. 9, p. 265.
(2) The verb dhaffafa ʿalayhi means “to deliver the finishing blow.” The report is found in Ibn Saʿd, vol. 3, p. 492.
(3) Ibn Hisham, 1/634–635, names them as Muʿadh b. ʿAmr b. al-Jamuh and Muʿawwidh b. ʿAfra. In the Musnad, 3/115, 129, 236, in Bukhari, 7/229, and in Muslim (no. 1800) from the hadith of Anas, they are referred to simply as “the two sons of ʿAfra,” without naming them. In Bukhari, 6/177, from the hadith of ʿAbd al-Rahman b. ʿAwf, they are identified as Muʿadh b. ʿAfra and Muʿadh b. ʿAmr b. al-Jamuh; the author will shortly point out that this wording is the soundest.
(**) Ibn Saʿd, al-Tabaqat, vol. 3, p. 492; Khalifa, al-Tabaqat, p. 90; Khalifa, Tarikh, p. 61; Ibn Abi Hatim, al-Jarh wa-l-Taʿdil, 7/14; al-Istibsar, p. 64; Ibn ʿAbd al-Barr, al-Istiʿab, 3/1225; Usd al-Ghaba, 4/311; al-Isaba, 7/177.