all of them but one: Kaʿb ibn Zayd, a clansman of Banū Dīnār ibn al-Najjār. The assailants had left him with the faintest breath of life; he was carried out from among the slain and lived on until he fell as a martyr on the Day of the Trench.

While the party’s mounts were being pastured, ʿAmr ibn Umayyah al-Ḍamirī and an Anṣārī from Banū ʿAmr ibn ʿAwf were away with the herd. Nothing alerted them to the calamity that had befallen their companions except the birds circling over the camp.

They said to one another, “By Allah, these birds are hovering for a reason.” They went to investigate and found the Muslims lying in their blood, while the enemy’s horses still stood over them.

The Anṣārī asked ʿAmr ibn Umayyah, “What do you think we should do?” He replied, “I think we must hasten to the Messenger of Allah ﷺ and inform him.”

The Anṣārī answered, “But I will not spare my own life in a place where al-Mundhir ibn ʿAmr has been killed, nor will I leave it to others to report on his death.” He then fought the attackers until he was killed, whereas ʿAmr was taken prisoner. When he told ʿĀmir ibn al-Ṭufayl that he belonged to Muḍar, ʿĀmir set him free, shaved his forelock, and counted the act as the manumission of a slave that was incumbent on his mother—or so he claimed.

ʿAmr ibn Umayyah departed. When he reached al-Qarqarah in upper Qanāh, two men from Banū ʿĀmir came and sat down in the shade where he was resting. They were under a covenant and protection granted to them by the Messenger of Allah ﷺ, but ʿAmr did not know of it. He asked them, “From which tribe are you?” They replied, “We are from Banū ʿĀmir.” He waited until they fell asleep, then attacked and killed them, thinking he was exacting vengeance on Banū ʿĀmir for what they had done to the Companions of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ.

When ʿAmr returned to the Messenger of Allah ﷺ and told him what had happened, the Prophet said, “You have killed two men; I must pay their blood money.” He added, “This is the outcome of Abū Barāʾ’s undertaking. I was disinclined to it and feared precisely this.”

When word of this reached Abū Barāʾ, he was deeply grieved that ʿĀmir had violated his pledge and that the Companions of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ had suffered on his account and under his guarantee.

On the betrayal of Abū Barāʾ by ʿĀmir, Ḥassān ibn Thābit (1) composed verses, urging the sons of Abū Barāʾ to take action against ʿĀmir:

O sons of Umm al-Banīn, does it not alarm you—
you who are the very crest of Najd’s nobility—
that ʿĀmir should ridicule Abū Barāʾ
and break his word? A wilful wrong is no mere slip.
Go, convey my reproach to the generous Rabiʿah:
what deeds have you wrought since my passing?
Your father—Abū Barāʾ—is the sire of battles,
and your maternal uncle is the noble Ḥakam ibn Saʿd.

Ibn Hishām (2) explains that Umm al-Banīn was the mother of Abū Barāʾ; she was the daughter of ʿAmr ibn ʿĀmir ibn Rabīʿah ibn ʿĀmir ibn Ṣaʿṣaʿah.

It is related that Rabiʿah ibn ʿĀmir ibn Mālik charged at ʿĀmir ibn al-Ṭufayl, thrusting his spear into his thigh and crippling him so that he fell from his horse. Rabiʿah declared, “This is the deed of Abū Barāʾ. If I die, my blood is my uncle’s to avenge, and no one else is to pursue it; if I live, I shall decide what course to take.”

Mūsā ibn ʿUqbah transmitted from al-Zuhrī a version similar to that of Muḥammad ibn Isḥāq. Mūsā added: “The commander of the detachment was al-Mundhir ibn ʿAmr; others say it was Marthad ibn Abī Marthad.”