to meet them three men from the Ansar. The polytheists asked, “Who are you?” They identified themselves (1). The polytheists replied, “You are noble and worthy opponents, but we want our cousins.” The Messenger of Allah—may Allah bless him and grant him peace—then ordered his kinsmen to go forth against them, saying, “Rise, Hamza! Rise, Ubayda! Rise, Alī!”
The youngest of the polytheists was al-Walīd, and the youngest of the Muslims was Alī, so the two went forth against one another. Alī killed his opponent, and Hamza killed his. Hamza’s opponent was said to have been Utba; according to another report, he was Shayba. Ubayda, for his part, wounded his opponent, and Hamza assisted him in killing that opponent. Ubayda ibn al-Hārith was then carried away (2).
According to another report, Alī killed only several men that day—fewer than ten, though the number may have been somewhat lower or higher.
The fullest list given by Ibn Hishām—and, before him, by Mūsā ibn Uqba—as well as by al-Umawī (3),
(1) M reads: “themselves.”
(2) See this report in *Sīrat Ibn Hishām*, 2/177. The report also appears in a hadith narrated from Alī—may Allah be pleased with him—in *Sunan Abī Dāwūd*, 3/71 (Book of Jihad, “Chapter on Single Combat”), and *al-Musnad* (al-Maʿārif ed.), 2/192–194 (hadith no. 948).
(3) Among the well-known historians of the Prophetic biography was al-Walīd ibn Muslim, who was known as al-Umawī. He was Abū al-Abbās al-Walīd ibn Muslim al-Umawī—by clientage—the Damascene. Born in 119 AH and having died in 195 AH, he was the leading scholar of Greater Syria in his time, a hadith master, and an author on the Prophetic biography and military campaigns. He wrote about seventy books, including *al-Maghāzī* (The Military Campaigns), portions of which survive in *Sahīh al-Bukhārī*. See *Shadharāt al-Dhahab*, 1/344; *al-Aʿlām*, 9/143; Sezgin, vol. [0–9], pt. [0–9], p. 98.
However, a few pages later (p. 116), Ibn Taymiyya identifies whom he means by al-Umawī, saying: “and Saīd ibn Yahyā al-Umawī and al-Walīd ibn Muslim.” I consider it most likely that the error originated either with Ibn Taymiyya or with the copyists. The correct identification is Yahyā ibn Saīd ibn Abān, Abū Ayyūb al-Umwarī al-Kūfī, who was born in 114 AH and died in 194 AH. He authored *al-Maghāzī*, which Sezgin mentions and discusses in vol. 1, pt. 2, pp. 97–98. See also *Tahdhīb al-Tahdhīb*, 11/213–214, and *Tadhkirat al-Huffāz*, 1/325–326.