And send down tranquillity upon us;
Should the war-cry ring out, we never flinch,
And in the tumult of shouting they look to us for aid.

The Messenger of Allah ﷺ asked, “Who is that camel-driver?” They replied, “ʽĀmir ibn al-Akwaʿ.” He said, “May Allah have mercy on him.” One of the company remarked, “It is decreed, O Prophet of Allah—if only you had let us enjoy his company a little longer.”

We then reached Khaybar and besieged its people until severe hunger overtook us. Thereafter Allah granted us victory. On the evening of the day Khaybar was conquered, the soldiers lit numerous fires. The Messenger of Allah ﷺ said, “What are these fires? What are you cooking on them?” They answered, “Meat.” He asked, “What kind of meat?” They said, “Domestic donkey meat.” The Prophet ﷺ said, “Throw it away and break the pots!” A man asked, “O Messenger of Allah, shall we not pour it out and wash the pots instead?” He replied, “That too.”

When the lines formed for battle, ʽĀmir’s sword was short. He tried to strike the leg of a Jew, but the blade rebounded, struck the hollow of ʽĀmir’s own knee, and he died of the wound.

On the return journey Salamah said: The Messenger of Allah ﷺ saw me while he was holding my hand and asked, “What is the matter with you?” I replied, “May my father and mother be sacrificed for you! They claim that ʽĀmir’s deeds have come to nothing.” The Prophet ﷺ said, “Whoever says that has lied; for him there are two rewards”—and he joined two fingers together—“He strove and strove; scarcely does an Arab walk the earth whose like he has.”

Muslim (2) narrated a similar report through Ḥātim ibn Ismāʿīl and others, from Yazīd ibn Abī ʽUbayd, from Salamah. Another wording reads: “None was reared who equalled him.”

Al-Suhaylī (3) noted a further variant: “Scarcely any Arab resembles him,” taking the phrase as an accusative of state, which is acceptable when the meaning is clear—just as in the ḥadīth: “Men prayed behind him standing.”

Ibn Isḥāq (4) transmitted the story of ʽĀmir ibn al-Akwaʿ through another route. He said: Muḥammad ibn Ibrāhīm ibn al-Ḥārith al-Taymī told me, from Abū’l-Haytham ibn Naṣr ibn Dahr al-Aslamī, that his father related that he heard the Messenger of Allah ﷺ say to ʽĀmir ibn al-Akwaʿ on the march to Khaybar—ʽĀmir being the uncle of Salamah ibn ʽAmr ibn al-Akwaʿ—“Dismount, son of al-Akwaʿ, and give us something of your verses.” He dismounted and chanted rajaz for the Messenger of Allah ﷺ, saying:

By Allah, were it not for Allah we would not have been guided,
Nor given charity nor offered the prayer.
When a people transgress against us, we stand against them;
And should they seek to sow discord, we refuse.
So send down tranquillity upon us,
And make firm our feet whenever we meet the foe.