Al-Matalib al-'Aliyah 4291 — The story of the killing

It is narrated from Sayyiduna Abdullah bin Unays (may Allah be pleased with him) that the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) sent me, Abu Qatadah, an Ansari ally of theirs, and Abdullah bin Atik to Ibn Abi al-Huqayq to kill him. We set out by night. On arriving there, we went round the doors of their houses and fastened them from the outside, then we gathered up the keys. Some of the men climbed the date palms, while I and Abdullah bin Atik reached Ibn Abi al-Huqayq's stairway. Abdullah bin Atik spoke, and Ibn Abi al-Huqayq said: "O Abdullah! May your mother lose you, how have you come to this town?" Then he said to his wife: "Get up and open the door for him, for a noble man does not turn anyone away from his door at this hour." When the woman got up, I said to Abdullah bin Atik: "He is yours, deal with him." He drew his sword. His wife was about to scream, so he raised his sword over her too, but at once he remembered the statement of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) in which he (peace and blessings be upon him) "forbade the killing of women and children," so he held back. Abdullah bin Unays (may Allah be pleased with him) said: Then I entered his upper chamber. I was looking at how intensely white he was in the darkness of the night. When he saw me, he took a pillow and hid behind it. I tried to swing my sword to strike him, but I could not because the ceiling was low, so I thrust the point of the sword into him, and then I came out. My companion asked: "Have you done it?" I said: "Yes." Then he went in and looked at him. Then we came out and began to go down the stairs, and Abdullah bin Atik fell from the stairs and said: "Oh, my leg! My leg is broken." I said: "Nothing has happened to your leg." Then I put down my bow and carried him. Abdullah was a short, slightly built man. When I set him down, his leg was perfectly fine. Then we went on until we joined our companions. Meanwhile the woman started screaming and crying out: "Oh, the night attack!" At this, the people of Khaybar rose up in agitation over his killing. I remembered my bow and said: "I will not go back without taking my bow." I went back and saw the people of Khaybar running about in a frenzy, with only one thing on their tongues: "Who killed Ibn Abi al-Huqayq?" Whenever I passed before anyone and he looked at me, I too said what they were saying: "Who killed Ibn Abi al-Huqayq?" until I reached the stairway. I climbed up with the people and picked up my bow, then I rejoined my companions. We would travel by night and hide by day. When we hid during the day, we would post a lookout to keep watch over us. When we came near Madinah, at a place called al-Bayda', I was their lookout. Then I signalled to them with my garment, and they came down and began to run swiftly. I too hurried after them until we reached Madinah. My companions asked me: "Did you see something?" I said: "No, but I saw that you were exhausted, so I wanted fear to put some speed into you." We came to the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) while he (peace and blessings be upon him) was addressing the people. On seeing us, he (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "These faces have succeeded." We said: "O Messenger of Allah! May your face also succeed." He (peace and blessings be upon him) asked: "Did you kill him?" We said: "Yes." Then the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) called for the sword with which he had been killed, and on seeing the filth on its blade he (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "These are the traces of the food of his stomach on the edge of the sword."
Abu Ya'la recorded it in his Musnad; its chain contains Ibrahim bin Isma'il bin Mujammi', who is a da'if (weak) narrator. However, the story of the killing of Ibn Abi al-Huqayq is established in Sahih al-Bukhari and Sahih Muslim through other reliable chains.