Muhayssa and Huwayssa, the dating, and the poems

The killing of Ka’b ibn al-Ashraf was at the hands of the Aws after the encounter of Badr; then the Khazraj killed Abu Rafi’ ibn Abi l-Haqiq after the encounter of Uhud, as its exposition will come, and Ibn Ishaq reported the poetry of Hassan ibn Thabit: ’What tribe have I met: O son of al-Haqiq, and you, son of al-Ashraf: striding with the white light ones toward you, joyous as lions in a yawning den, until they came to you in the place of your land and watered you in one draught with white, flashing blades, seeing clearly for the victory of the religion of their prophet, making themselves small against every contemptible matter.’ Muhammad ibn Ishaq said: the Messenger of Allah said: whoever of you catches any men of the Jews, kill them. Thereupon Muhayssa ibn Mas’ud al-Awsi leapt upon Ibn Sunayna,

a man of the Jewish merchants who used to trade with them, and killed him; and his brother Huwayssa ibn Mas’ud, older than he and not yet a Muslim, began striking him and saying: O enemy of Allah, have you killed him? By Allah, much of the fat in your belly is of his wealth. Muhayssa said: by Allah, He who commanded me to kill him: were he to command me to kill you, I would strike your neck. Huwayssa said: and by Allah, were Muhammad to command you to kill me, would you kill me? He said: yes, and by Allah, were he to command me to strike your neck I would strike it. He said: by Allah, a religion that has brought you to this is a wonder; and Huwayssa accepted Islam. Ibn Ishaq said: this hadith was related to me by a freedman of the Banu Haritha, from the daughter of Muhayssa, from her father; and Muhayssa said therein: ’A son of a mother blames:

were I commanded his slaying I would match his nape with a white salt-colored blade of pure polish; when I point it, it lies not. Nor delighted me that I slew you willingly, and that we own what lies between Bosra and Ma’rib.’ Ibn Hisham related, from Abu Ubayda, from Abu Amr al-Madani, that this story was after the killing of the Banu Qurayza and that the slain was Ka’b ibn Yahudha; and when Muhayssa killed him upon the command of the Messenger of Allah on the day of the Banu Qurayza, his brother Huwayssa said what he said, and Muhayssa answered him with what preceded, and Huwayssa accepted Islam that day; and Allah knows best. A caution: al-Bayhaqi mentioned, and al-Bukhari before him, the story of the Banu an-Nadir before the encounter of Uhud, and the correct is to report it after that, as Muhammad ibn Ishaq and others of the imams of the campaigns mention; and its proof is that wine was forbidden the nights of the siege of the Banu an-Nadir,

and it is established in the Sahih that one of those slain on the day of Uhud as a martyr had become drunk with wine, indicating wine was then lawful and was only forbidden after; so it appears what we said, that the story of the Banu an-Nadir was after the encounter of Uhud; and Allah knows best. Another caution: the story of the Jews of the Banu Qaynuqa’ after the encounter of Badr, as preceded; and likewise the killing of Ka’b ibn al-Ashraf the Jew at the hands of the Aws, and the story of the Banu an-Nadir after the encounter of Uhud as will come; and likewise the killing of Abu Rafi’ the Jew, merchant of the people of the Hijaz, at the hands of the Khazraj, upon the famous account; and the story of the Jews of the Banu Qurayza after the day of the Confederates and the story of the Trench, as will come.