—telling him that this would be better for him—but Ibn Budayl refused and charged toward Muʿāwiyah. When he reached him, he found Muʿāwiyah standing before his troops with two swords in his hands, surrounded by battalions as solid as mountains. As Ibn Budayl drew near, a group of them attacked him (1); they killed him, flung his body to the ground, and his companions fled in disorder, most of them wounded. When his men were routed (2), Muʿāwiyah said to his followers, “Look at their commander.” They came over but did not recognize him, so Muʿāwiyah advanced and discovered that it was ʿAbd Allah ibn Budayl.

Muʿāwiyah exclaimed, “By Allah, this is exactly as the poet—Hatim al-Taʾi—said (3)(4):

A comrade of war: when war bites him, he bites it back,
and when war girds itself against him, he too girds himself.

He shields, when meeting death draws near;
even so the sire of cubs protects his pride when provoked (5)(6).

Like a roaring lion guarding his domain,
till the arrows of fate struck him and blood poured forth.

Al-Ashtar al-Nakhaʿī then charged with those fugitives who had returned, pressing the assault until he pierced the five ranks that had pledged [and covenanted to die and] never to flee and that stood around Muʿāwiyah. He broke through four of them, leaving only one line between himself and Muʿāwiyah. Al-Ashtar said, “I beheld an awesome sight and almost fled myself, but nothing kept me firm except the verses of Ibn al-Iṭnaba—whose mother was from Balqayn; he was with the Ansar though pre-Islamic—(7):

My chastity forbids me, and my noble mettle too,
and my charge against the daunting champion;

My spending of my wealth in times of hardship,
and my blow upon the crown of the fair-faced warrior (8);

And my saying, whenever the breast heaves and surges:
“Hold your ground—win praise, or else find rest.”

He said, “Those lines are what steadied me in that situation.”

What is astonishing is that Ibn Dizil reports in his book that the Iraqis mounted a single charge, leaving no Syrian rank intact until they reached Muʿāwiyah, who then called for his horse to escape on it. Muʿāwiyah said, “When I put my foot in the stirrup, the verses of ʿAmr ibn al-Iṭnaba came to mind:

My chastity forbids me, and my high resolve,
my gaining of praise at the finest price;

My spending of my wealth in times of hardship,
and my blow upon the crown of the daunting champion.”