Musannaf Ibn Abi Shaybah

Hazrat Muhammad bin Sa’d narrates that during the Battle of Qadisiyyah, one day the poet Abu Mihjan was brought to Hazrat Sa’d bin Abi Waqqas on the charge of drinking wine. Hazrat Sa’d ordered him to be shackled. At that time, Hazrat Sa’d was injured and could not go to the people. Therefore, he chose the area of the spring named ‘Udhayb for the supervision of his warriors and began to inspect. He had appointed Khalid bin ‘Arfatah as the leader of the cavalry. When the battle began, Abu Mihjan recited a verse of poetry, the translation of which is: “How regrettable it is that you are killing the horsemen while I am shackled in chains.” (2) Then he said to Hazrat Sa’d’s wife, Bint Khusafah, “Set me free; I swear that if I remain alive, I will return and shackle myself again, and if I am killed, I will request prayers for mercy.” Then Bint Khusafah released him, and by then the battlefield had become heated. (3) He leapt and mounted Hazrat Sa’d’s horse named Balqa’, took a spear, and attacked the enemy. Wherever he went, he defeated the enemy. So much so that people began to say, “This is the king!” And Hazrat Sa’d was saying, “The leap is that of my horse Balqa’, and the spear-thrust is that of Abu Mihjan, while Abu Mihjan is in prison!” (4) When the enemy was defeated, Abu Mihjan returned and shackled himself again. Bint Khusafah told Hazrat Sa’d the whole incident, so he said, “By God, I cannot enforce the punishment on a man because of whom Allah granted victory to the Muslims.” Then Hazrat Sa’d set Abu Mihjan free. Upon this, Abu Mihjan said, “When the punishment was enforced upon me, I used to drink wine and would be purified by the punishment, but now that you have pardoned me from the punishment, by God, I will never drink wine again.”