Abū Rāfiʿ was one of those who had rallied the Confederates against the Messenger of Allah—peace and blessings be upon him. Before the Battle of Uḥud the Aws had killed Kaʿb ibn al-Ashraf, so the Khazraj asked the Messenger of Allah ﷺ for permission to put Sallām ibn Abī al-Ḥuqayq to death while he was in Khaybar, and he granted them leave.

Ibn Isḥāq said: Muḥammad ibn Muslim al-Zuhrī related to me from ʿAbd Allāh [ibn Kaʿb] ibn Mālik, who said:

Among the favors Allah showed His Messenger ﷺ was that the two Anṣār tribes—the Aws and the Khazraj—used to vie with one another in supporting him like two stallions sparring. Whenever the Aws accomplished a deed that benefited the Messenger of Allah ﷺ, the Khazraj would say, “By Allah, they shall not outstrip us in merit before the Messenger of Allah ﷺ and within Islam,” and they would not rest until they had equaled it. If the Khazraj did something, the Aws would say the same.

When the Aws had killed Kaʿb ibn al-Ashraf for his hostility toward the Messenger of Allah ﷺ, the Khazraj declared, “By Allah, they shall never retain this advantage over us.”

They therefore looked for a man whose enmity toward the Messenger of Allah ﷺ matched that of Ibn al-Ashraf, and they mentioned Ibn Abī al-Ḥuqayq, who was in Khaybar. They sought the Prophet’s permission to kill him, and he granted it. Five men from the Khazraj, all of them from the clan of Banū Salama, set out: ʿAbd Allāh ibn ʿAtīk, Masʿūd ibn Sinān, ʿAbd Allāh ibn Unays, Abū Qatādah al-Ḥārith ibn Ribʿī, and Khuzayʿī ibn Aswad—an ally of theirs from the tribe of Aslam. The Messenger of Allah ﷺ appointed ʿAbd Allāh ibn ʿAtīk their leader and instructed them not to kill any child or woman.

They made their way to Khaybar and, by night, came to Ibn Abī al-Ḥuqayq’s house. They sealed every room in the house, locking its occupants inside. He was in an upper chamber reached by a wooden staircase. They climbed it until they stood at his door and asked permission to enter. His wife came out and asked, “Who are you?” They replied, “We are Arabs seeking provisions.” She said, “Your man is inside; go in to him.”

When we entered, we shut the door of the room upon ourselves and upon him, fearing some scuffle might stand between us and him. His wife screamed, alerting others, but we rushed at him as he lay on his bed and struck him with our swords. By Allah, nothing guided us to him in the darkness save the whiteness of his body, gleaming like a sheet of fine Egyptian linen.

Each time his wife cried out, one of us would raise his sword toward her, then recall the Prophet’s prohibition and hold back; but for that, we would have silenced her that very night. After striking him, ʿAbd Allāh ibn Unays leaned over and drove his sword into the man’s belly until it passed clear through, while the victim kept saying, “Qatnī, qatnī”—meaning, “Enough for me, enough for me.”

We then withdrew. ʿAbd Allāh ibn ʿAtīk, who had poor eyesight, slipped on the staircase and badly sprained his hand. We carried him until we reached one of their water channels and hid within it. They lit fires and searched in every direction; when they finally despaired, they returned to their master and clustered around him as he was breathing his last.

We asked ourselves, “How can we be sure the enemy of Allah has died?” One of us said, “I will go and find out.” He went and mingled with the people, finding the man’s wife and several Jewish men around him. She held a lamp, gazing at his face and saying, “Did you not hear the voice of Ibn ʿAtīk? Then I dismissed it, telling myself, ‘How could Ibn ʿAtīk be in this land?’” She bent over him, looked closely at his face, and exclaimed, “He has expired—by the God of the Jews!” Never had I heard words sweeter to my ears than those.

He returned and told us what he had learned. We lifted our injured companion, went back to the Messenger of Allah ﷺ, informed him of the death of that enemy of Allah, and then argued in his presence over who among us had actually killed him—each man claiming the deed for himself.