al-Barṣāʾ al-Laythī. We seized him and he said, “I have come only to embrace Islam.” Ghālib ibn ʿAbd Allāh replied, “If you have truly come to accept Islam, a day and a night of confinement will not harm you; but if your purpose is other than that, we shall have secured ourselves against you.” He then bound him securely, left over him a small black man who was with us, and said, “Stay with him until we pass by again; if he resists you, sever his head.”

We continued until we reached the valley of Kadīd. Late in the afternoon, after the ʿAṣr prayer, we encamped there. My companions sent me ahead, so I climbed a hill that overlooked the settlement and lay flat upon it—this was before sunset. A man from among them came out, saw me lying on the hill, and said to his wife, “I can make out a dark figure on that hill that I did not notice earlier today. See whether the dogs have dragged away any of your containers.” She looked and said, “By Allah, I have lost nothing.”

He said, “Hand me my bow and two arrows from my quiver.” She handed them to him, and he shot me with an arrow that struck my forehead—or, he said, my side. I pulled it out, put it down, and did not move. He shot a second arrow that lodged in the top of my shoulder; I pulled it out, put it down, and still did not move.

He then said to his wife, “By Allah, both of my arrows have struck him. Had he been a lookout (1) he would have moved. When morning comes, look for my two arrows and bring them to me so the dogs do not chew them.”

We waited until their herds returned in the evening, they milked them, watered them, and settled down. When part of the night had passed, we launched our raid, killed them, and drove off their livestock. We set out on our way back with the booty, and the alarm of the people reached their nearby tribesmen.

We hurried on until we passed by al-Ḥārith ibn Mālik ibn al-Barṣāʾ and his companion, taking him with us. The cry for help spread, and forces came against us that we could not withstand. When only the bed of the valley of Qudayd lay between us and them, Allah sent water from wherever He willed—we had seen no rain nor any sign of it before—and a flood came that no one could cross. I saw them standing, watching us; none of them could advance, while we were driving the livestock hard—or chanting to urge them on; Nuʿayfī was unsure. We hurried on until we led the herd up the pass, then down its far side, leaving the pursuers powerless to recover what was in our hands.

Abū Dāwūd (2) has also narrated this account through Muḥammad ibn Isḥāq, but in his version he names the commander “ʿAbd Allāh ibn Ghālib.” The correct form, as noted earlier, is Ghālib ibn ʿAbd Allāh.

Al-Wāqidī (3) records the same story through another chain and states that one hundred and thirty Companions accompanied him.

Al-Bayhaqī (4), citing al-Wāqidī, likewise mentions the expedition of Bashīr ibn Saʿd toward the Khaybar region, where they met a large force of Arabs and captured abundant livestock. The Prophet ﷺ dispatched him on that campaign at the suggestion of Abū Bakr and ʿUmar—may Allah be pleased with them—and it was