was al-Miqdād ibn al-Aswad, whose mount was called Baʿzajah—some say Sabḥah—while the other was ridden by al-Zubayr ibn al-ʿAwwām, and his horse was named al-Yaʿsūb.

They carried a banner borne by Muṣʿab ibn ʿUmayr, together with two flags: ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib held the one for the Emigrants, and Saʿd ibn ʿUbādah held the one for the Helpers. The chief counsellor for the Emigrants was Abū Bakr al-Ṣiddīq, and the chief counsellor for the Helpers was Saʿd ibn Muʿādh.

As for the polytheist host, the soundest estimate is that they numbered between nine hundred and one thousand. ʿUrwah and Qatādah state explicitly that they were nine hundred and fifty men, while al-Wāqidī (1) puts them at nine hundred and thirty. Such precision needs supporting evidence, however; some reports say they exceeded a thousand—perhaps counting their attendants as well. God knows best.

The authentic ḥadīth recorded by al-Bukhārī (2), narrated by al-Barāʾ, affirms that seventy of them were killed and seventy captured, and this is the view of the majority. For that reason Kaʿb ibn Mālik said in a poem:

[from the kāmil metre]
At the befouled watering-place there lay
Seventy—ʿUtbah among them, and al-Aswad.

Al-Wāqidī (3) even claimed scholarly consensus on this, yet his claim is open to question, for Mūsā ibn ʿUqbah and ʿUrwah ibn al-Zubayr held a different opinion, and both are leading authorities in this field. Consensus cannot be asserted without their concurrence, even if their view is outweighed by the sound ḥadīth. God knows best.

Ibn Isḥāq and others (4) have listed the names of the slain and the captives, and al-Ḥāfiẓ al-Ḍiyāʾ has refined the matter admirably in his Aḥkām. Earlier in the account it was noted that the first man killed was al-Aswad ibn ʿAbd al-Asad al-Makhzūmī, and that the first to flee was Khālid ibn al-Aʿlam al-Khuzāʿī—or al-ʿUqaylī—an ally of Banū Makhzūm; yet that availed him nothing, for he was taken prisoner.

He is the one who recited:

[from the ṭawīl metre]
Not from our heels do wounded bloodstains flow;
Rather, from our very feet the blood drips slow.

He spoke less than truth. The first captives seized were ʿUqbah ibn Abī Muʿīṭ and al-Naḍr ibn al-Ḥārith; both were executed, steadfast before the Messenger of God ﷺ, in the presence of the other prisoners. Scholars differ over which of the two was put to death first. Later, the Prophet ﷺ released a number of captives without ransom, among them Abū al-ʿĀṣ ibn al-Rabīʿ al-Umawī, al-Muṭṭalib ibn Ḥanṭab ibn al-Ḥārith al-Makhzūmī, Ṣayfī ibn Abī Rafāʿah—as mentioned earlier—Abū ʿAzzah the poet, and Wahb ibn ʿUmayr ibn