He was the first to establish the practice of praying two rakʿahs before execution. After finishing he prayed, “O Allah, count them one by one and destroy them to the last!” He then recited:

I care not, so long as I am slain a Muslim,
On which side my body falls for God’s sake.
All of this is for the One God; and should He will,
He will bless the severed limbs of a mutilated corpse.

The narrator continues: ʿUqbah ibn al-Hārith then advanced and killed him. Quraysh next sent men to ʿĀṣim, seeking to bring back some part of his body that they might recognize, for ʿĀṣim had killed one of their nobles at Badr. Allah, however, sent over him a cloud-like swarm of hornets that shielded him from their emissaries, so they were unable to obtain anything of him.

Al-Bukhārī states (1): “ʿAbd Allāh ibn Muḥammad narrated to us; Sufyān narrated to us, from ʿAmr, who heard Jābir ibn ʿAbd Allāh say: ‘The one who killed Khubayb was Abū Sirwaʿah.’”

I comment: His name is ʿUqbah ibn al-Hārith; he later embraced Islam and has a ḥadīth concerning suckling. It has also been said that Abū Sirwaʿah and ʿUqbah were brothers—Allah knows best.

This is how al-Bukhārī relates the story of the men of al-Rajīʿ in the Book of Military Expeditions of his Ṣaḥīḥ. He also records it in the Books of Divine Unity and Jihād (2) through several chains from al-Zuhrī, from ʿAmr ibn Abī Sufyān ibn Asīd ibn Jāriyah al-Thaqafī, an ally of Banū Zuhrah. Some narrators call him ʿUmar ibn Abī Sufyān, but the well-known form is ʿAmr.

In another wording preserved by al-Bukhārī (3): “The Messenger of Allah ﷺ dispatched ten men as a reconnaissance detachment and appointed ʿĀṣim ibn Thābit ibn Abī al-Aqlaḥ as their commander,” and he related the incident in similar detail.

Muḥammad ibn Isḥāq, Mūsā ibn ʿUqbah, and ʿUrwah ibn al-Zubayr diverge from him on certain points. We shall therefore cite Ibn Isḥāq’s version so that the differences become clear—bearing in mind that Ibn Isḥāq is an undisputed authority in this field, as al-Shāfiʿī, may Allah have mercy on him, said: “Whoever seeks knowledge of the campaigns is dependent upon Muḥammad ibn Isḥāq.”

Muḥammad ibn Isḥāq (4), may Allah have mercy on him, said: ʿĀṣim ibn ʿUmar ibn Qatādah narrated to me that, after the Battle of Uḥud, a delegation from ʿAḍal and al-Qārah came to the Messenger of Allah ﷺ and said, “O Messenger of Allah, there is Islam among us, so send with us some of your Companions to instruct us in the religion, recite the Qur’an to us, and teach us the rulings of Islam.” The Messenger of Allah ﷺ therefore sent with them six of his Companions: Marthad ibn Abī Marthad al-Ghanawī, an ally of Ḥamzah ibn ʿAbd al-Muṭṭalib—whom Ibn Isḥāq identifies as the leader—Khalid ibn al-Bukayr al-Laythī, an ally of Banū ʿAdiyy; ʿĀṣim ibn Thābit ibn Abī al-Aqlaḥ of the clan of Banū ʿAmr ibn ʿAwf; Khubayb ibn ʿAdiyy of Banū Jahjabā ibn Kilfah ibn ʿAmr ibn ʿAwf; and Zayd ibn al-Dathinnah of Banū