and to recite the Quran to us.” The Messenger of Allah ﷺ therefore sent Khubaib ibn ʿAdī with them.

Ibn Isḥāq said: He dispatched six men in their company, appointing Marthad ibn Abī Marthad al-Ghanawī as their leader, and he listed their names just as Mūsā had done.

Ibn Isḥāq continued: The party set out with those emissaries, and when they reached al-Rajīʿ—a watering place of Hudhayl in the Ḥijāz, on the upper reaches of al-Hadaʾ—the latter betrayed them. They summoned the tribe of Hudhayl for support, and before the Muslims realized what was happening, men brandishing swords descended upon them while they were in their encampment. The Companions reached for their own swords to fight, but their assailants said, “By Allah, we do not intend to kill you; we only wish to use you to gain something from the people of Mecca. We give you Allah’s covenant and guarantee that we will not kill you.”

Marthad, ʿĀṣim, and Ibn al-Bukayr replied, “By Allah, we will never accept the pledge or protection of any polytheist.”

Hudhayl wanted to take ʿĀṣim’s head to sell it to Salāfah bint Saʿd, for she had vowed—on the day her two sons were struck down at Uḥud—that if she could seize ʿĀṣim she would drink wine from his skull. A swarm of hornets, however, protected him; they waited for the insects to disperse, but Allah sent a flood through the valley that swept ʿĀṣim away.

ʿĀṣim had pledged to Allah that no polytheist would ever touch him, nor would he touch a polytheist, so as to avoid defilement.

The attackers then captured Khubaib, Ibn al-Dathinnah, and ʿAbd Allah ibn Ṭāriq and set off with them toward Mecca to sell them. When they reached al-Zahrān, ʿAbd Allah freed his hand from the bonds, seized a sword, and stepped back from the group. They stoned him to death, and he was buried at al-Zahrān.

Al-Bakkāʾī relates from Ibn Isḥāq: Yahyā told me—on the authority of his father ʿAbbād ibn ʿAbd Allah ibn al-Zubayr, from ʿUqbah ibn al-Ḥārith—that he said, “By Allah, it was not I who killed …”