2708 – Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd al-Raḥmān narrated to us; he said: Yaḥyā ibn Muḥammad narrated to us; he said: al-Zubayr ibn Bakkār narrated to us; he said: Abū Ghaziyyah Muḥammad ibn Mūsā narrated to us; he said: ʿAbd Allāh ibn Muṣʿab related to me, from Hishām ibn ʿUrwah, from Fāṭimah bint al-Mundhir, from Asmāʾ bint Abī Bakr, who said:

Al-Zubayr ibn al-ʿAwwām passed by a gathering of the Companions of the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, ⦗1491⦘ while Ḥassān was reciting his poetry to them, yet they showed little enthusiasm for what they were hearing. Al-Zubayr sat down with them and then said, “Why do I see you giving so little ear to the poetry of Ibn al-Furayʿah? He used to recite it before the Messenger of Allah, peace be upon him; the Prophet would listen attentively, move his cloak in appreciation, and nothing would distract him from it.”

Ḥassān then recited:

He kept to the Prophet’s covenant and his guiding light—
 his faithful disciple, whose words and deeds agree.
He trod his method and stayed upon his way,
 befriending the friend of Truth, and Truth is the fairest judge.
He is the famed horseman, the champion who charges
 whenever the bright day of battle appears.
When war bares its shank, he cleaves its core
 with a flashing white blade, striding swiftly toward death.
A man whose mother is Ṣafiyyah—born in a house of lions—
 is surely wrapped in honor.
He enjoys close kinship with the Messenger of Allah,
 and, for aiding Islam, possesses an inherited, well-rooted glory.
How many a crisis did al-Zubayr ward off from the Chosen One with his sword!
 Allah gives and bestows in abundance.
Your praise outshines the deeds of many a people,
 and your action, O son of the Hashimite lady, is supreme.