it tore through the ranks like an enraged bull goring with its horns, so I stepped aside, and his cousin ʿAlī closed in on him and killed him.

Ibn Isḥāq said: ʿUkkāshah ibn Miḥṣan ibn Ḥurthān al-Asadī, an ally of Banū ʿAbd Shams, fought at Badr with his sword until it snapped in his hand. He then went to the Messenger of Allah ﷺ, who handed him a piece of firewood and said, “Fight with this, O ʿUkkāshah.” When he took it from the Messenger ﷺ and shook it, it became a sword in his hand—tall, solid-bladed, and gleaming white. With it he fought until Allah granted victory to the Muslims. The sword came to be called al-ʿAwn (“the Helper”). ʿUkkāshah retained it and bore it in every engagement alongside the Messenger of Allah ﷺ until Ṭulayḥah al-Asadī killed him during the Ridda wars. Ṭulayḥah then composed a poem, in which he said:

One evening I left Ibn Aqram lying still,
And ʿUkkāshah the herdsman amidst the clash of spears.

Ṭulayḥah later embraced Islam, as will be explained.

Ibn Isḥāq also related: ʿUkkāshah was the Companion who, when the Messenger of Allah ﷺ gave his community the glad tidings of seventy thousand who will enter Paradise without reckoning or punishment, said, “Pray to Allah that He make me among them.” The Prophet replied, “O Allah, make him one of them.” This ḥadīth is recorded in the sound and fair collections and elsewhere.

Ibn Isḥāq further reported that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ—according to what has reached me—said: “Among us is the finest horseman in all Arabia.” They asked, “Who is he, O Messenger of Allah?” He said, “ʿUkkāshah ibn Miḥṣan.” Ḍirār ibn al-Azwar al-Asadī remarked, “He is one of us, O Messenger of Allah.” The Prophet replied, “He is not of your tribe, but he is one of us”—referring to the bond of alliance.

Al-Bayhaqī transmitted—through al-Ḥākim—from Muḥammad ibn ʿUmar al-Wāqidī: ʿUmar ibn ʿUthmān al-Jahshī related to me from his father, from his aunt, who said: ʿUkkāshah ibn Miḥṣan recounted, “My sword broke on the Day of Badr, so the Messenger of Allah ﷺ gave me a branch, and it turned into a long white sword. I fought with it until Allah routed the idolaters, and it remained with me until I died.”