“How could a Hārithī maiden ever win his heart—one who settles at Busra or al-Jawābiyā?
And how could he meet her? Yet perhaps, if the people make the pilgrimage next year, she might come.” (1)
ʿUmar then said to his army commander, “If you capture this woman by force, hand her over to Ibn Abī Bakr.”
The commander did capture her and delivered her to him. Ibn Abī Bakr was captivated by her and showed her preference over his other wives, until they complained about him to ʿĀʾishah.
She told him, “You have gone to excess.”
He replied, “By Allah, I sip pomegranate seeds from between her teeth.”
She later fell ill, her teeth dropped out, and he turned away from her. She complained to ʿĀʾishah again, so ʿĀʾishah spoke to him.
He eventually provided her with provisions and sent her back to her family; she was the daughter of kings.
Ibn Abī Mulaykah said, “ʿAbd al-Raḥmān died at al-Ṣifāḥ, (2) and his body was carried and buried in Mecca.”
It is established in Sahih Muslim, in the Book of Purification, that ʿAbd al-Raḥmān attended the funeral of Saʿd ibn Abī Waqqāṣ, which indicates that he outlived Saʿd. (3)
(1) The lines are quoted in Nasab Quraysh, p. 276; al-Aghani, 17/358; and al-Isaba under the entry of Layla bint al-Judi. The phrase “tudmin Busra” means “to frequent it and stay there.”
(2) Al-Safah is a locality between Hunayn and the boundary stones of the Sanctuary, on the left of whoever enters Mecca. Yet in the hadith reported by al-Tirmidhi (no. 1055) through the chain of Abd Allah ibn Abi Mulayka we read: “Abd al-Rahman ibn Abi Bakr died at al-Hubshi (a mountain six miles below Mecca) and was then carried to Mecca.” All the transmitters are trustworthy, except that the sanad contains the anʿana of Ibn Jurayj, who was prone to tadlis. The same report appears in Abd al-Razzaq’s Musannaf (no. 6535) with the wording: Ibn Jurayj said, “I heard Ibn Abi Mulayka say: Aisha said, ‘Had I been present when Abd al-Rahman—meaning her brother—died, he would have been buried only where he died.’ He died at al-Hubshi and was buried in the upper part of Mecca.” Here Ibn Jurayj explicitly says “I heard,” removing the suspicion of tadlis, and he is corroborated by Ayyub al-Sakhtiyani in another isnad preserved by Abd al-Razzaq (no. 6539). The chain is therefore sound.
(3) The documentation has already been cited; see p. 472, note (3).