Ibn Isḥāq said: Abu Sufyān—according to what Muḥammad ibn Jaʿfar ibn al-Zubayr, Yazīd ibn Rumān, and other trustworthy narrators related to me on the authority of ʿAbd Allāh ibn Kaʿb ibn Mālik, one of the most knowledgeable of the Anṣār—when he returned to Mecca and the shattered remnant of Quraysh had come back from Badr, vowed that no water would touch his head after a major ritual impurity until he had attacked Muḥammad. Consequently, he set out with two hundred mounted men of Quraysh to fulfill his oath.
He took the Najd route until he halted at the head of Qanāh near a mountain called Thayb, about one postal stage from Madinah. Leaving under cover of darkness, he reached the quarter of Banū al-Naḍīr and went to Huyayy ibn Akhṭab, knocking at his door, but Huyayy, fearing him, refused to open. Abu Sufyān then turned to Sallām ibn Mishkam, who at that time was the chief of Banū al-Naḍīr and custodian of their treasure. Sallām admitted him, entertained him with food and drink, and supplied him with detailed intelligence about the people. Toward the end of the night Abu Sufyān departed, rejoined his men, and dispatched a party of Quraysh who entered a district of Madinah called al-ʿArīḍ. They set fire to several enclosures of date-palms and found an Anṣārī man and his ally working in their field; they killed both and withdrew. When news of this reached the people, the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, set out in pursuit.
Ibn Hishām adds: In his absence he appointed Abū Lubābah Bashīr ibn ʿAbd al-Munḏhir to administer Madinah.
Ibn Isḥāq continues: The Prophet advanced as far as Qarqarat al-Kudr and then turned back, for Abu Sufyān and his men had slipped away. The Companions of the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, found many supplies that the idolaters had jettisoned to lighten their loads; most of it was roasted barley flour (sawīq), so the encounter came to be known as the Expedition of al-Sawīq.
The Muslims said, “O Messenger of Allah, may we hope that this counts for us as a battle?” He replied, “Yes.”
Ibn Isḥāq also reports that Abu Sufyān composed some verses about the incident in which he praised Sallām ibn Mishkam, the Jewish leader:
[long metre]
I chose the city deliberately, bound by an alliance—
I neither regretted it nor felt any hesitation.
Sallām ibn Mishkam served me a deep-red, potent wine,
quenching my thirst though I was pressed for time.
When the army moved on I said—without seeking to flatter him—
“Rejoice in a raid and in plunder to gain!”
Reflect: these people act covertly, yet they are
the pure sons of Lu’ayy, not the motley brood of Jurhum.
It was but part of a night for a mounted courier
who came at full gallop, no pauper lacking means.