Men of lofty brow and noble nose—heroes whose battle-dress is shirts of mail, coats wrought after David’s own weaving.

Their gleaming, full-length hauberks are close-linked with rings, plaited like the braided circles of the qafʿā’.

They do not exult when their spears strike a people, nor are they panic-stricken when the blows fall on them.

The thrusts land only upon their throats, and they never cry for release from death’s very pool.

Such is the version of the poem recorded by Muḥammad ibn Isḥāq, who supplied it without an isnād.

Al-Ḥāfiẓ al-Bayhaqī, however, relates it in his “Proofs of Prophethood” (1) with a continuous chain. He says:

Abū ʿAbd Allāh al-Ḥāfiẓ told us; Abū al-Qāsim ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn al-Ḥasan ibn Aḥmad al-Asadī of Hamadhān told us; Ibrāhīm ibn al-Ḥusayn told us; Ibrāhīm ibn al-Mundhir al-Ḥizāmī told us; al-Ḥajjāj ibn Dhī’l-Ruqaybah—ibn ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Kaʿb ibn Zuhayr ibn Abī Sulmā—told us, from his father, from his grandfather, who said:

Kaʿb and Bujayr, the two sons of Zuhayr, set out until they reached Abraq al-ʿAzzāf. Bujayr said to Kaʿb, “Stay here while I go to that man”—meaning the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him—“and listen to what he says.” Kaʿb stayed put, while Bujayr went off, came to the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, and embraced Islam.

When the news reached Kaʿb he said:

“Carry, on my behalf, a message to Bujayr:
For what—woe to you!—have others besides you led you astray?

Toward a code in which we found neither mother nor father abiding,
Nor did you gain therein even a single brother of yours.

Abū Bakr has handed you a brimming cup to drink;
The Trusted One has slaked your thirst with it again and again.”

When these verses reached the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, he declared Kaʿb’s blood lawful and said, “Whoever meets Kaʿb, let him kill him.” Bujayr wrote to his brother, informing him of this and adding, “Save yourself—I do not think you will escape.”

He later wrote again: “Know that the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, never has anyone come to him bearing witness that there is no god but Allah and that Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah without his accepting that from him and erasing what was before. So when this letter of mine reaches you, accept Islam and come.”

Kaʿb thereupon accepted Islam and composed his ode praising the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him. He came, tethered his mount at the door of the Prophet’s Mosque, and entered. The Messenger of Allah was seated among his Companions like a banquet set before the people—circles upon circles around him. He would turn to one group and speak, then turn to another and speak.

Kaʿb said: “I tethered my mount at the mosque door, then entered, recognized the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, by his description, stepped through the circles, and sat before him. I declared, ‘I bear witness that there is no god but Allah and that you are Muhammad, the Messenger of Allah. Grant me safety, O Messenger of Allah!’”

He asked, “And who are you?” I replied, “Kaʿb ibn Zuhayr.”

He said, “The one who said…?” Then the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, turned to Abū Bakr and said, “How did he say it, Abū Bakr?”

Abū Bakr recited:

“Abū Bakr has handed you a brimming cup to drink;
The one so commanded has slaked your thirst with it again and again.”