“And among mankind is he who sells himself, seeking the pleasure of Allah; and Allah is most compassionate to His servants.” (al-Baqarah 2:207)

Ibn Isḥāq said:
Among the poetry composed about this expedition is the piece that Khubayb recited when they had unanimously decided to kill him—

Ibn Hishām adds: some people deny that the poem is actually his:

(Tawīl metre)

1. The factions have massed around me, urging one another on;
   Their tribes are assembled, every gathering complete.
2. Each of them openly shows enmity and strives against me,
   For I stand here bound, my fetters firm.
3. They have even brought their children and their women,
   And I have been set near a tall, well-guarded trunk.
4. To Allah I complain of my exile, then of my anguish,
   And of what my foes have laid in wait for me at my death-spot.
5. The Lord of the Throne has steeled me for what they intend;
   They have carved my flesh and all worldly hope has faded.
6. Yet this is for the sake of Allah; and if He wills,
   He will bless the severed limbs of a torn-apart body.
7. They gave me a choice between unbelief and death short of it,
   And my eyes overflowed with tears, though not from dread.
8. I do not fear death—for die I must—
   Rather I fear the blistering flame of a shrouding Fire.
9. By Allah, I care not—so long as I die a Muslim—
   On which side my body falls for Allah. [1]
10. Never will I display to the enemy a cringing weakness,
    Nor panic, for to Allah is my return.

Two verses of this poem are quoted earlier in Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī; they read:

I care not, when I am killed as a Muslim,
On which side my body falls for Allah.

And this is for the sake of Allah; and if He wills,
He will bless the severed limbs of a torn-apart body.

Ḥassān ibn Thābit also mourned Khubayb, as Ibn Isḥāq relates:

(Basīṭ metre)

1. Why do your eyes not cease their tears,
   Streaming down the breast like restless pearls,
2. For Khubayb—the youth of youths, as all well know—
   Never cowardly when met, never rash.
3. Go, Khubayb; may Allah reward you with goodness,
   And with the Garden everlasting among the maidens in ease.
4. What will you say if the Prophet asks you,
   While the righteous angels fill the horizon,
5. “For what cause did you slay Allah’s martyr,
   At the hands of a tyrant who has ravaged towns and travellers?”

Ibn Hishām remarks: We have omitted some of his lines because they were excessively scathing.

Ḥassān likewise lampooned those of Banū Lihyān who betrayed the men of al-Rajīʿ, according to Ibn Isḥāq:

(Basīṭ metre)