Rabiʿah ibn Salamah ibn Māzin ibn Rabiʿah ibn Munabbih (1) — who is Zubayd the Elder (2) — son of al-Ḥārith ibn Ṣaʿb (3) ibn Saʿd al-ʿAshīrah ibn Madhḥij, the Zubaydī al-Madhḥijī, better known by his kunya Abū Thawr; one of the celebrated horsemen and illustrious champions, famed for his valor.
He came to the Messenger of Allah ﷺ in the ninth year (4)—some say in the tenth—as part of the Murād delegation, while others state he arrived with the delegation of his own tribe, Zubayd.
Later he apostatized together with al-Aswad al-ʿAnsī, whereupon Khālid ibn Saʿīd ibn al-ʿĀṣ marched out against him. Khālid engaged him in battle, struck his shoulder with the sword, and he and his people fled; Khālid also carried off his renowned sword, al-Ṣamṣāmah. He was subsequently captured and brought before Abū Bakr, who rebuked, admonished, and called him to repent. He repented, and thereafter his Islam became exemplary.
Abū Bakr dispatched him to Syria, where he fought at al-Yarmūk. ʿUmar then ordered him to join Saʿd, writing that he should be consulted but given no official post. Through him Allah benefited Islam and the Muslims; he performed noble deeds at al-Qādisiyyah. Some say he was killed there, others at Nihāwand, and still others that he died of thirst in a village called Rawdhah (5)—Allah knows best. All these reports place the event in the year 21 AH.
One of his tribesmen elegized him, saying (6):
[Ṭawīl metre]
The riders left—on the day they journeyed on—
At Rawdhah a man, no coward, not naïve.
So tell Zubayd—indeed, tell all of Madhḥij—
You have lost Abū Thawr, ʿAmr, peerless in war (7).
ʿAmr ibn Maʿdīkarib (may Allah be pleased with him) was also a fine poet. Among his verses are the following (8):
[Wāfir metre]
O censor, my defence is body, spear,
And every swift mount easy to steer.
O censor, I have spent my youth away
Responding to the cry of those who pray.
With champions till my frame was worn outright,
And scabbard-weight has battered shoulder’s might.
After the people’s clemency, mine stays (9),
My store is spent ere theirs in battle’s blaze.
Qays longed to face me—would that wish come true!
How far his longing lies from my purview.