Imam Aḥmad said: “Abū ʿĀmir ʿAbd al-Malik ibn ʿAmr related to us; al-Mughīrah ibn ʿAbd al-Raḥmān related to us, from Abū al-Zinād, who said: al-Murqaʿ ibn Ṣayfī told me on the authority of his grandfather Rabāḥ ibn Rabīʿ—the brother of Ḥanẓalah the scribe—that he informed him that he went out with the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, on one of his campaigns. Khālid ibn al-Walīd was commanding the vanguard. Rabāḥ and a group of the Companions of the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, passed by a woman who had been killed by the vanguard. They halted, gazing at her and marveling at her stature, until the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, caught up with them on his mount. They drew aside, and he, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, stopped beside her and said:

“This woman was not one who fought.”

Then he said to one of them,

“Catch up with Khālid and tell him: ‘Do not kill children, nor hired servants.’”

Abū Dāwūd, al-Nasāʾī, and Ibn Mājah likewise transmitted it from al-Murqaʿ ibn Ṣayfī with similar wording.

***

The Expedition of Autās

Its cause was that, when the Hawāzin were routed, one faction—including their leader Mālik ibn ʿAwf al-Naṣrī—fled to al-Ṭāʾif and fortified themselves there. Another faction marched on and encamped at a place called Autās. The Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, sent a detachment of his Companions against them under the command of Abū ʿĀmir al-Ashʿarī. They fought and defeated that force. Thereafter the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, advanced in person and laid siege to the people of al-Ṭāʾif, as will be explained.

Ibn Isḥāq says: When the idolaters were broken on the day of Ḥunayn, they headed for al-Ṭāʾif with Mālik ibn ʿAwf. Some of them camped at Autās, and others set out toward Nakhlah. None of those who took the Nakhlah route were other than the Banū Ghīrah of Thaqīf. The cavalry of the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, pursued those who went through Nakhlah, but did not pursue those who slipped away by the mountain passes.

He continues: Rabīʿah ibn Rafīʿ ibn Ahbān al-Sulamī—known as Ibn al-Dughnah, after his mother—caught up with Durayd ibn al-Ṣimmah. He seized the halter of Durayd’s camel, thinking that it was a woman, for the rider was inside a litter. When he brought the camel to its knees, he found an elderly man; it was Durayd ibn al-Ṣimmah, though the lad did not recognize him.

Durayd asked, “What do you want with me?”

He replied, “I mean to kill you.”

Durayd said, “And who are you?”

He answered, “I am Rabīʿah ibn Rafīʿ al-Sulamī.” He then struck him with his sword, but the blow had no effect.

Durayd remarked, “What a wretched weapon your mother equipped you with! Take my sword from behind the saddle in the litter; then strike with it—raise your blow above the bones and below the brain—for that is how I used to strike…”