—lying flat on his back. I set the sword against his belly and leaned on it until I heard the bone crack. I then rushed out in confusion toward the stairs; I slipped, dislocating my leg, so I bound it up. Limping, I reached my companions and said, “Go and give the good news to the Messenger of Allah ﷺ, for I will not leave until I hear the death announcement.”

When dawn broke, the town crier mounted the wall and proclaimed, “I announce the death of Abu Rafiʿ!” I rose and walked off, feeling no pain at all, caught up with my companions before they reached the Prophet ﷺ, and gave him the glad tidings myself.

Ibn Lahiʿah reported: Abu al-Aswad narrated from ʿUrwah that Sallam ibn Abi al-Huqayq had stirred up Ghatafan and the surrounding Arab idolaters, urging them to fight the Messenger of Allah ﷺ and promising them a large reward. The Prophet ﷺ therefore sent a party against him, and they struck him in his home by night.

Musa ibn ʿUqbah says in his Maghazi: They came upon Abu Rafiʿ the Jew at Khaybar and killed him in his house.

The slaying of Ibn Nubayh al-Hudhali

Ibn Lahiʿah narrated: Abu al-Aswad, on the authority of ʿUrwah, said: The Messenger of Allah ﷺ dispatched ʿAbd Allah ibn Anis al-Sulami to Sufyan ibn Nubayh al-Hudhali—later al-Laḥyani—to kill him while he was at ʿUrana in the valley of Mecca.

Muhammad ibn Salamah, reporting from Ibn Ishaq, said: Muhammad ibn Jaʿfar ibn al-Zubayr related to me from ʿAbd Allah ibn ʿAbd Allah ibn Anis, from his father, who said: The Messenger of Allah ﷺ summoned me and said, “News has reached me that Ibn Nubayh al-Hudhali is gathering people to attack me; he is at Nakhlah or ʿUrana, so go to him and kill him.” I said, “O Messenger of Allah, describe him to me so that—”