Al-Umawī relates in his Maghāzī: “I heard my father, who narrated to us from Sulaymān ibn Arqam, from Ibn Sīrīn, from Abū Hurayrah, that the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, forgave the poetry of the pre-Islamic period.”

Sulaymān added, “When this was mentioned to al-Zuhrī he said, ‘He excused all of it except two odes: the poem of Umayyah in which he speaks of the people of Badr, and the poem of al-Aʿshā in which he mentions al-Aḥwaṣ.’”

This report is odd, and Sulaymān ibn Arqam is considered unreliable; Allah knows best.

Section: The Expedition against Banū Sulaym, Year Two after the Hijrah

Ibn Isḥāq said: When the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, finished the affair of Badr at the end of Ramadan—or in Shawwāl—he returned to Madinah and stayed there only seven nights before setting out in person against Banū Sulaym.

Ibn Hishām said: In his absence he appointed Sibaʿ ibn ʿUrfuṭah al-Ghifārī—or Ibn Umm Maktūm, the blind Companion—to administer Madinah.

Ibn Isḥāq continued: He reached one of their watering places called al-Kudr, remained there for three nights, then returned to Madinah without meeting any resistance. He stayed for the rest of Shawwāl and Dhū’l-Qaʿdah, and during that period he ransomed most of the Quraysh prisoners.

Section: The Raid of al-Sawīq in Dhū’l-Ḥijjah of that same year (also known as the Expedition of Qarqarat al-Kudr)

Al-Suhaylī said: qarqara denotes a smooth, level tract of land, while al-kudr is a bird whose plumage carries a dusky hue.