The sounder opinion is that he did not actually fight at Badr (1); he only halted at the well-spring of Badr, and because of that he came to be associated with the battle. He did, however, attend the Pledge of al-ʿAqabah, and at the time he was a young man, about the same age as Jābir.

He transmitted many hadiths and is counted among the learned Companions. Later he settled in Kūfah.

His full name is ʿUqbah ibn ʿAmr ibn Thaʿlabah ibn Usayrah ibn ʿUsayrah al-Anṣārī. Another line of descent says: Yusayrah ibn ʿUsayrah—both names with ḍamma—ibn ʿAṭiyyah ibn Khudārah (2) ibn ʿAwf ibn al-Ḥārith ibn al-Khazraj.

Among those who related hadith from him were his son Bashīr, Aws ibn Ḍamʿaj, ʿAlqamah, Abū Wāʾil, Qays ibn Abī Ḥāzim, Ribʿī ibn Ḥirāsh, ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Yazīd, ʿAmr ibn Maymūn, al-Shaʿbī, and others besides.

Al-Wāqidī said: “He was present at al-ʿAqabah but not at Badr.”
Al-Dāraqutnī said: “His grandfather’s name was Nusayrah—with an initial nūn,” but this report is contradicted.
Mūsā ibn ʿUqbah stated: “He merely stayed at a locality called Badr.”
Shuʿbah narrated from Saʿd ibn Ibrāhīm that he was not a Badri, whereas al-Ḥakam maintained that he was a Badri (3).