English Translation

Hujayn ibn al-Muthanna Abu 'Umar told us, he said: 'Abd al-'Aziz — that is, Ibn 'Abdullah ibn Abi Salamah — told us, from 'Abdullah ibn al-Fadl, from Sulayman ibn Yasar, from Ja'far ibn 'Amr al-Damri, who said: I went out with 'Ubaydullah ibn 'Adi ibn al-Khiyar to Syria. When we arrived at Homs, 'Ubaydullah said to me, "Would you like to go to Wahshi, that we may ask him about the killing of Hamzah?" I said, "Yes." Wahshi was living in Homs. He said: We asked about him, and it was said to us, "There he is, in the shade of his palace, like a waterskin." He said: We came until we stood before him and greeted him, and he returned our greeting. He said: 'Ubaydullah had wrapped himself in his turban so that Wahshi could see nothing of him except his eyes and his feet. 'Ubaydullah said, "O Wahshi, do you know me?" He said: He looked at him, then said, "No, by Allah, except that I know that 'Adi ibn al-Khiyar married a woman called Umm Qital, daughter of Abu al-'Is, and she bore him a boy in Mecca, and he sought a wet-nurse for him, so I carried that boy along with his mother and handed him to her — and it is as if I am now looking at your feet." He said: 'Ubaydullah then uncovered his face and said, "Will you not tell us about the killing of Hamzah?" He said, "Yes. Hamzah killed Tu'aymah ibn 'Adi at Badr, so my master Jubayr ibn Mut'im said to me, 'If you kill Hamzah in retaliation for my uncle, you are free.' So when the people went out on the day of 'Aynayn" — he said: 'Aynayn is a small mountain below Uhud, with a valley between it and Uhud — "I went out with the people to fight. When they lined up for battle, Siba' came out calling for single combat, so Hamzah ibn 'Abd al-Muttalib went out to him. Siba' ibn Umm Anmar said, 'O son of the one who cuts clitorises, do you oppose Allah and His Messenger?' Then he charged at him, and it was over as quickly as a day gone by. I had lain in ambush for Hamzah under a rock, until when he passed by me — when he drew near me, I threw my spear at him, and I placed it in his lower abdomen until it came out from between his two hips." He said: "That was the last I saw of him." He said: "When the people returned, I returned with them." He said: "I remained in Mecca until Islam spread there." He said: "Then I went out to Ta'if." He said: "The Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, sent for me" — and it was said to him that he would not harm the messengers — he said: "So I went out with them until I came to the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him." He said: "When he saw me, he said, 'Are you Wahshi?' I said, 'Yes.' He said, 'Did you kill Hamzah?' I said, 'What happened is what has reached you, O Messenger of Allah' " — he said: "He said, 'Can you not keep your face away from my sight?'" He said: "So I went back. Then when the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, passed away, and Musaylimah the Liar arose, I said, 'I will surely go out against Musaylimah, that perhaps I may kill him and thereby make up for Hamzah.'" He said: "So I went out with the people, and what happened to them happened. He said: Then there was a man standing in a gap in a wall, like a grayish camel with disheveled hair." He said: "So I threw my spear at him, and I placed it between his breasts until it came out from between his shoulders." He said: "And a man from the Ansar leapt at him and struck him with the sword on his head." 'Abdullah ibn al-Fadl said: Sulayman ibn Yasar informed me that he heard 'Abdullah ibn 'Umar [relate that] a slave-girl on the roof of a house said, "The Commander of the Faithful — the black slave has killed him!"