It is related that when they crucified Zayd ibn al-Dathinnah they shot arrows at him in an effort to make him recant his religion, yet it only increased him in faith and surrender.
ʿUrwah and Mūsā ibn ʿUqbah also report that when they hoisted Khubayb onto the stake they called out imploring him, “Would you like Muhammad to be in your place?” He replied, “By Allah the Mighty, I would not wish to be ransomed by so much as a thorn that pricks his foot.” At this they laughed. Ibn Isḥāq records this same exchange in the story of Zayd ibn al-Dathinnah—and Allah knows best.
Mūsā ibn ʿUqbah further said: “They claim that ʿAmr ibn Umayyah was the one who buried Khubayb.”
Ibn Isḥāq states (1): Yaḥyā ibn ʿAbbād ibn ʿAbd Allāh ibn al-Zubayr narrated to me, from his father ʿAbbād, from ʿUqbah ibn al-Ḥārith, who said, “I swear by Allah, I did not kill Khubayb, for I was too young at the time. Rather, Abū Maysarah of the Banū ʿAbd al-Dār took a spear, placed it in my hand, grasped my hand and the spear together, and then thrust it into Khubayb until he died.”
Ibn Isḥāq also says (2): One of our companions told me that ʿUmar ibn al-Khaṭṭāb appointed Saʿīd ibn ʿĀmir ibn Ḥudhaym al-Jumaḥī over part of Syria. Saʿīd would sometimes fall unconscious while sitting among the people, and this was reported to ʿUmar, some saying the man was afflicted. When ʿUmar later visited him he asked, “O Saʿīd, what is this that comes over you?” He replied, “By Allah, O Commander of the Believers, I am perfectly well, but I was among those present when Khubayb ibn ʿAdī was killed, and I heard his supplication. By Allah, whenever that scene crosses my mind in any gathering I lose consciousness.” This only increased ʿUmar’s regard for him.
Al-Umawī relates: My father told me that Ibn Isḥāq said, “We have been informed that ʿUmar remarked, ‘Whoever wishes to see a man who stands alone in his class should look at Saʿīd ibn ʿĀmir.’”
Ibn Hishām states (3): “Khubayb remained in their hands until the sacred months had passed; then they killed him.”
Al-Bayhaqī transmits—through the chain of Ibrāhīm ibn Ismāʿīl—from Jaʿfar ibn ʿAmr ibn Jaʿfar ibn ʿAmr ibn Umayyah, from his father, from his grandfather ʿAmr ibn Umayyah, that the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, had dispatched him alone as a scout. He said: “I came to the cross on which Khubayb had been fastened, climbed up while wary of onlookers, and loosened him so that he fell to the ground. I then climbed down and withdrew a little distance; when I turned back I saw nothing—it was as though the earth had swallowed him. Up to this very moment not a single trace of Khubayb has ever been mentioned.”
Ibn Isḥāq also reports (4), through Muḥammad ibn Abī Muḥammad, from Saʿīd—or ʿIkrimah—from Ibn ʿAbbās who said: “When the men of al-Rajīʿ were killed, some of the hypocrites exclaimed, ‘Woe to these deluded people who perished like this! They neither stayed safely with their families nor delivered their Messenger’s message.’ Concerning them Allah revealed: ‘And among mankind is he whose speech pleases you in worldly life, and he even calls Allah to witness what is in his heart, yet he is the fiercest of adversaries’ (al-Baqarah 2:204) and the verses that follow. Allah likewise revealed verses regarding the members of that expedition.”