Abu Isḥāq Ibrāhīm ibn ʿAbd al-Raḥmān al-Duhaym related in his Tafsīr: “My father (1) narrated to us; Saʿīd ibn Manṣūr (2) narrated to us; from Rabiʿ ibn ʿAbd Allāh ibn al-Jārūd (3), who said: I heard al-Jārūd (4) say:
‘There was a man from Banū Riyāḥ (5)(6) named Ibn Wathīl (7), a poet, who challenged the poet Abū al-Farazdaq Gālib (8) at a watering place on the outskirts of Kūfa. The agreement was that, once their camels reached the water, each of them would hamstring a hundred of his own beasts. When the camels arrived at the water, the two of them went at them with their swords, hacking at their hamstrings. People rushed out on red mounts (9) and on mules, hoping to carry the meat away (10), while ʿAlī—may Allah be pleased with him—was in Kūfa; so he, too, came out riding a mule.’
(1) He is Ibrahim ibn Abd al-Rahman ibn Ibrahim al-Qurashi al-Dimashqi; see Ghayat al-Nihaya 1/16.
(2) The printed edition mistakenly reads ʿan.
(3) Rabiʿ ibn Abd Allah ibn al-Jarud ibn Abi Sabra al-Hudhali al-Basri. Ibn Hajar grades him “truthful, eighth generation”; Abu Dawud relates from him. See Taqrib al-Tahdhib 1/243, no. 29.
(4) Al-Jarud ibn Abi Sabra al-Hudhali al-Basri, Abu Nawfal—the grandfather of the preceding Rabiʿ. Ibn Hajar calls him “truthful, third generation.” He died in 120 AH, and Abu Dawud transmitted his reports. See Taqrib al-Tahdhib 1/124, no. 20.
(5) MSS Ab and T read yaʿni kana, while MS D has kana yaʿni; the particle yaʿni is probably a copyist’s addition.
(6) They are a sub-clan of Tamim descending from Riyah ibn Yarbuʿ al-Tamimi. See al-Lubab fi Tahdhib al-Ansab 2/46.
(7) Suhaym ibn Wathil al-Riyahi, a pre-Islamic poet who lived to embrace Islam (mukhadram). See al-Isabah 2/110, no. 3665.
(8) Ghalib ibn Saʿsaʿa ibn Najiyah al-Tamimi, father of the poet al-Farazdaq. Al-Isabah notes that Ghalib’s father was a Companion, and that Ghalib himself lived during the Companions’ era. See al-Isabah 3/193, no. 6931.
(9) The printed text has al-humr. Al-humurat is the plural of humur, which is itself the plural of himar (donkey); humurat is therefore a plural of a plural. See Lisan al-Arab, s.v. ḥ-m-r, 4/212.
(10) The printed edition reads al-lahm (meat), but al-haml here means a bundle of meat.