Before I killed him the anxieties of my soul would come and go,
denying me the softness of my bed.
By his blood I loosed my grievance and achieved my vengeance—
I was the first to return to the idols.
Thus I avenged Fihr through him and laid the blood-money upon
the nobles of Banū al-Najjār, the lords of Fāriʿ. (1)

I say: For this reason this Miqyās was one of the four whose blood the Messenger of Allah ﷺ declared lawful to shed on the Day of the Conquest, even if they were found clinging to the curtains of the Kaʿbah.

Ibn Isḥāq (2) relates: While the people were at that watering place, the camp’s water-bearers arrived. With ʿUmar ibn al-Khaṭṭāb was a hired servant from Banū Ghifār named Jahjāh ibn Masʿūd, leading his horse. Jahjāh and Sinān ibn Wabr al-Juhanī—an ally of Banū ʿAwf of al-Khazraj—jostled over the water and came to blows. Al-Juhanī shouted, “O company of the Anṣār!” and Jahjāh cried, “O company of the Muhājirūn!”

ʿAbd Allāh ibn Ubayy ibn Salūl became enraged. A group of his tribesmen were with him, among them the youthful Zayd ibn Arqam. He said, “Have they really done this? They have challenged us and outnumbered us in our own land. By Allah, we and these cloaks of Quraysh are just like the proverb, ‘Fatten your dog and it will eat you.’ By Allah, when we return to Madinah, the mighty shall surely drive out from it the lowly!”

He then turned to his people and added, “This is what you have brought upon yourselves. You admitted them into your land and shared your wealth with them. By Allah, were you to withhold what is in your hands from them, they would move on to some other abode.”

Zayd ibn Arqam heard this and went to the Messenger of Allah ﷺ—who had just finished with his enemy—and informed him of what he had heard. ʿUmar ibn al-Khaṭṭāb was present and said, “Give the order to ʿAbbād ibn Bishr to kill him.”

The Messenger of Allah ﷺ replied, “But how, O ʿUmar, when people will say that Muhammad kills his own Companions? No; rather have the call given for departure.”

It was an hour at which the Messenger of Allah ﷺ would not ordinarily break camp, yet the people mounted and set out. When ʿAbd Allāh ibn Ubayy ibn Salūl learned that Zayd ibn Arqam had reported his words, he came to the Messenger of Allah ﷺ and swore by Allah, “I did not say what he claims; I did not utter those words.” He was a man of great standing among his people, so some of the Anṣār who were with the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said, out of consideration for Ibn Ubayy and in his defense, “Messenger of Allah, perhaps the boy misunderstood and did not accurately recall what the man said.”

When the Messenger of Allah ﷺ had mounted and begun to travel, Usayd ibn Ḥuḍayr met him, greeted him with the greeting of prophethood, and said, “Messenger of Allah, by Allah—”