Allah indeed guards the believing servant. ʿĀṣim had pledged that no idolater would ever touch him, nor would he touch an idolater throughout his life; and after his death Allah protected him just as He had protected him while he lived.

Ibn Isḥāq (1) relates: As for Khubayb, Zayd ibn al-Dathinnah, and ʿAbd Allāh ibn Ṭāriq, their resolve weakened, their hearts softened, and they yearned for life. They gave themselves up, were captured, and their captors set out with them for Mecca to sell them there. When they reached al-Ẓahrān, ʿAbd Allāh ibn Ṭāriq slipped his hand free of the binding, seized a sword, and the men backed away from him. They then stoned him to death, and he was buried at al-Ẓahrān. Khubayb ibn ʿAdiyy and Zayd ibn al-Dathinnah, however, were taken on to Mecca.

Ibn Hishām adds: The two were sold to Quraysh in exchange for two members of Hudhayl who were being held in Mecca.

Ibn Isḥāq continues: Khubayb was purchased by Ḥujayr ibn Abī Ihāb al-Tamīmī, an ally of Banū Nawfal, on behalf of ʿUqbah ibn al-Ḥārith ibn ʿĀmir ibn Nawfal. Abū Ihāb was al-Ḥārith ibn ʿĀmir’s maternal brother, and the purchase was made so that ʿUqbah could kill Khubayb in revenge for his father.

As for Zayd ibn al-Dathinnah, Safwān ibn Umayyah bought him in order to kill him in retaliation for his father. Safwān sent him with a servant named Nistas to al-Tanʿīm, taking him outside the Sanctuary so that he could be executed. A number of Quraysh gathered there, among them Abū Sufyān ibn Ḥarb. When Zayd was brought forward, Abū Sufyān said, “I adjure you by Allah, O Zayd: would you prefer that Muḥammad were now in your place so that we might strike off his head, and that you were safe at home with your family?”

Zayd replied, “By Allah, I would not wish that Muḥammad were now in the place where he is struck by so much as a thorn that could hurt him while I sit safely among my family.”

Abū Sufyān remarked, “I have never seen any people love another the way Muḥammad’s Companions love Muḥammad.” Then Nistas killed him.

Ibn Isḥāq goes on: ʿAbd Allāh ibn Abī Najīḥ narrated to me—on the authority of Māwiya, the maid-servant of Ḥujayr ibn Abī Ihāb, who had embraced Islam—that she said: “Khubayb was with me, imprisoned in my house. One day I looked in on him and, lo, in his hand was a cluster of grapes as large as a man’s head from which he was eating, and by Allah I knew of no grapes at all being eaten anywhere in the land.”

Ibn Isḥāq (2) said: ʿĀṣim ibn ʿUmar ibn Qatādah and ʿAbd Allāh ibn Abī Najīḥ both informed me that Māwiya also said: “When death drew near, he said to me, ‘Send me a blade so that I may cleanse myself before being killed.’ I handed a razor to a boy of the clan and told him, ‘Take this into the house to that man.’ By Allah, the moment the boy went off with it I exclaimed, ‘What have I done! The man will surely take his revenge by killing this boy, a life for a life.’ When the boy handed him the blade, Khubayb took it and said, ‘By your life, your mother need not have feared that I would betray you when she sent you to me with this blade.’ He then set the boy free.”

Ibn Hishām remarks: It is also said that the boy was her own son.

Ibn Isḥāq reports, citing ʿĀṣim: They then led Khubayb out until they reached al-Tanʿīm to crucify him. He said to them, “If you see fit to allow me to perform two rakʿahs, then do so.” They replied, “Go ahead and pray.” He thereupon prayed two rakʿahs, perfect in form and beautiful in manner,