Hadith #259

Arabic Text

English Translation

Ḥujayn ibn al-Muthannā Abū ʿUmar narrated to us: ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz — meaning Ibn ʿAbdullāh ibn Abī Salamah — narrated to us, from ʿAbdullāh ibn al-Faḍl, from Sulaymān ibn Yasār, from Jaʿfar ibn ʿAmr al-Ḍamrī, who said: I went out with ʿUbaydullāh ibn ʿAdī ibn al-Khiyār to al-Shām. When we arrived in Ḥimṣ, ʿUbaydullāh said to me: 'Would you like us to visit Waḥshī and ask him about the killing of Ḥamzah?' I said: 'Yes.' Waḥshī was living in Ḥimṣ. We asked about him and were told: 'That is him, in the shade of his palace, like a leather bag.' We came and stood before him, greeted him, and he returned our greeting. ʿUbaydullāh had wrapped his turban around his head so that Waḥshī could see only his eyes and feet. ʿUbaydullāh said: 'O Waḥshī, do you know me?' He looked at him and said: 'No, by Allāh, except that I know ʿAdī ibn al-Khiyār married a woman called Umm Qitāl, daughter of Abī al-ʿĪṣ. She bore him a boy in Makkah and sent him out to nurse. I carried that boy with his mother and handed him to her. It is as if I am looking at your feet now.' ʿUbaydullāh uncovered his face and said: 'Will you not tell us about the killing of Ḥamzah?' He said: 'Yes. Ḥamzah killed Ṭuʿaymah ibn ʿAdī at Badr. My master Jubayr ibn Muṭʿim said to me: "If you kill Ḥamzah in revenge for my uncle, you are free." When the people went out on the day of ʿAynīn' — and ʿAynīn is a small mountain below Uḥud, between which is a valley — 'I went out with the people to fight. When they lined up for battle, Sibāʿ came forward calling: "Who will duel?" Ḥamzah ibn ʿAbd al-Muṭṭalib came out to him. Sibāʿ said: "O son of the woman who cuts..." and Ḥamzah charged him and he was like yesterday, gone. I lay in ambush for Ḥamzah under a rock. When he passed near me, I threw my spear at him and placed it in his lower abdomen until it came out between his hips. That was the last I saw of him. When the people returned, I returned with them. I stayed in Makkah until Islam spread there, then I went to al-Ṭāʾif. The Messenger of Allāh ﷺ sent for me, and it was said to him that messengers are not harmed. So I went out with them until I came to the Messenger of Allāh ﷺ. When he saw me, he said: "You are Waḥshī?" I said: "Yes." He said: "You killed Ḥamzah?" I said: "What happened is as has reached you, O Messenger of Allāh." He said: "Can you hide your face from me?" So I left. When the Messenger of Allāh ﷺ died and Musaylimah the Liar appeared, I said: "I will go out against Musaylimah; perhaps I will kill him and compensate for Ḥamzah." So I went out with the people, and what happened happened. Then I saw a man standing in a breach in a wall, like a dusty camel with his hair disheveled. I threw my spear at him and placed it between his breasts until it came out from between his shoulders. An Anṣārī man rushed at him and struck him with a sword on his skull.' ʿAbdullāh ibn al-Faḍl said: Sulaymān ibn Yasār informed me that he heard ʿAbdullāh ibn ʿUmar say: 'A slave girl on a rooftop cried: "The Commander of the Believers — the black slave killed him!"'