Fath al-Rabbani

It is narrated from Sayyiduna Abu Hurairah (may Allah be pleased with him) that the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) sent a group of ten men to find out the conditions of the Quraysh and what plans they were making these days. The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) appointed Asim bin Thabit bin Abi Aqlah, the maternal grandfather of Asim bin Umar bin Khattab (may Allah be pleased with him), as their leader. These people set out on their mission, and when they reached a place called Al-Haddah between ‘Usfan and Makkah Mukarramah, their presence was reported to the Banu Lihyan, a tribe of Banu Hudhayl. About a hundred archers from this tribe pursued them. The Muslims had stopped at a place, and the people of Banu Lihyan saw that they had eaten dates there. They said, “These are the pits of the dates of Yathrib.” They followed their footprints until they reached them. When Asim (may Allah be pleased with him) and his companions were informed about them, they climbed a high hill. The enemy surrounded them and said, “Come down and give us whatever you have. We make a firm promise to you that we will not kill any of you.” So Asim bin Thabit (may Allah be pleased with him), the leader of the caravan, said, “By Allah! I will not accept the protection of any disbeliever. O Allah! Inform Your Prophet about us.” Then the disbelievers started shooting arrows at the Muslims and martyred seven of them, including Sayyiduna Asim (may Allah be pleased with him). The remaining three men—Sayyiduna Khubaib Ansari (may Allah be pleased with him), Sayyiduna Zayd bin Dathinah, and a third man—came down as a result of their promise. When the disbelievers captured the three, they untied the strings of their bows and tied them up with them. The third companion among them said to the disbelievers, “This is your deception. By Allah! I will not go with you. For me, there is the best example among these martyrs.” The disbelievers dragged him and tried their best to take him along, but he clearly refused to go, so finally, they killed him too. They took Sayyiduna Khubaib (may Allah be pleased with him) and Sayyiduna Zayd bin Dathinah (may Allah be pleased with him) with them and sold them in Makkah. This incident took place after Badr. Sayyiduna Khubaib (may Allah be pleased with him) had killed Harith bin ‘Amir bin Nawfal on the day of Badr, so his children bought Sayyiduna Khubaib (may Allah be pleased with him). Sayyiduna Khubaib (may Allah be pleased with him) remained as a prisoner with them until they planned to kill him. Before his execution, Sayyiduna Khubaib (may Allah be pleased with him) asked a daughter of Harith for a razor, and she brought it to him. During this time, the woman’s small son went to Khubaib (may Allah be pleased with him). She says, “I was unaware of the child, and I did not realize when he reached Khubaib (may Allah be pleased with him). When I saw Khubaib, he had the child sitting on his thigh and the razor in his hand.” She says, “I became frightened at this sight. Khubaib (may Allah be pleased with him) realized my anxiety and said, ‘Did you fear that I would kill him? I cannot do such a thing.’ She says, ‘By Allah! I have never seen a better prisoner than Khubaib.’ She narrates, ‘By Allah! I saw him one day eating grapes that were in his hand, even though he was bound in chains, and at that time there were no fruits in Makkah.’ She used to say that Allah Almighty had granted Khubaib (may Allah be pleased with him) special sustenance. When they took Sayyiduna Khubaib (may Allah be pleased with him) out of the Haram to kill him, he said to them, ‘Allow me to perform two rak‘ahs of prayer.’ So they allowed him, and he performed two rak‘ahs of prayer. Then he said, ‘By Allah! If I did not fear that you would think I was afraid of death, I would have prayed more. O Allah, count each one of them and destroy them, leaving none of them.’ Then he recited these verses:

FALASTU UBALI HINA UQTALU MUSLIMAN
‘ALA AY-YI JANBIN KANA LILLAHI MASRA‘I
WA DHALIKA FI DHATIL-ILAHI WA IN YASHA’
YUBARIK ‘ALA AWSALI SHILWIN MUMAZZA‘I

(I do not care, when I am killed as a Muslim, on which side I fall for Allah’s sake. This is happening to me for the sake of Allah, because I have believed in Him and His Messenger. If He wills, He will bless the severed limbs of my body.)

After this, Abu Saru‘ah ‘Uqbah bin Harith advanced and martyred him. Sayyiduna Khubaib (may Allah be pleased with him) established the practice of performing prayer before being killed for every Muslim who is to be killed while tied up. Allah Almighty accepted the supplication of Sayyiduna Asim bin Thabit (may Allah be pleased with him) on the day of his martyrdom, and the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) informed the Companions of their incident on the same day. When the Quraysh learned that Asim bin Thabit (may Allah be pleased with him) had been killed, they sent some Quraysh men to cut off some parts of Asim’s body so that they could be sure he was really dead. In fact, Asim (may Allah be pleased with him) had killed a chief of the Quraysh on the day of Badr. So Allah Almighty sent swarms of hornet-like poisonous insects, which shaded Asim (may Allah be pleased with him) like an umbrella and protected him from the evil intentions of the people sent by the Quraysh. They did not dare to cut any part of his body.