Rifa'ah ibn Zayd

D'Arabia: Rafi'ah b. Zayd b. 'Amir b. Suwad ibn Ka'b, who is Dhafir b. al-Khazraj b. 'Amr b. Malik b. al-Aws al-Ansari al-Awsi, then al-Zafri, the uncle of Qatadah b. al-Nu'man b. Zayd. He was the one who stole the arms and food of the Banu Abirq.

We were informed by Ismail b. 'Ubayd Allah b. 'Ali, and others, who said in their chain of transmission to Muhammad b. Isa al-Tirmidhi, he said: Our narrator, al-Hasan b. Ahmad b. Abi Shu'ayb, Abu Muslim al-Harrani, informed us, Muhammad b. Salamah al-Harrani informed us, Muhammad b. Ishaq informed us, from Asim b. 'Umar b. Qatadah, from his father, from his grandfather, Qatadah b. al-Nu'man, he said: There was a family among us, known as the Banu Abirq: Bishr, Bashir, and Mubashshir. Bashir was a hypocrite, who would compose poetry, and would mock the Companions of the Prophet ﷺ with it. Some Arabs would then ridicule it. When the Companions of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ heard that poetry, they said: By Allah, this poetry can only be said by this wicked person.

They were a family of need and poverty in the Jahiliyyah and Islam. In Medina, their food was only dates and barley. A man would only have a surplus if he had a surplus of dates and barley. If a man had a surplus, he would buy from a merchant from Damascus, who would bring goods from Darmak. The man would buy for himself, while the dependents would only have dates and barley to eat.