The burial of Dhu al-Bijadayn at Tabuk

Ibn Ishaq relates from Muhammad ibn Ibrahim ibn al-Harith al-Taymi that Abdullah ibn Mas'ud used to tell how he rose in the depths of the night on the Tabuk campaign and saw a blaze of fire at the side of the camp: it was the Prophet, Abu Bakr and Umar, for Abdullah Dhu al-Bijadayn al-Muzani had died and they had dug his grave, the Prophet inside it while the other two lowered the body to him, saying "bring your brother near to me"; then he prayed for him — and Ibn Mas'ud said: would that I had been the man of that grave. ¹

Ibn Ishaq relates from Muhammad ibn Ibrahim ibn al-Harith al-Taymi that Abdullah ibn Mas'ud used to tell how he rose in the depths of the night on the Tabuk campaign and saw a blaze of fire at the side of the camp, and followed it. ²

There were the Prophet, Abu Bakr and Umar; Abdullah Dhu al-Bijadayn al-Muzani had died and they had dug for him, the Prophet in his grave while Abu Bakr and Umar lowered him down to him as he said: bring your brother near to me. ²

When he had laid him in place he said: "O God, I am this morning pleased with him — be pleased with him." Ibn Mas'ud said: would that I had been the man of that grave. ²

Ibn Hisham explains the name Dhu al-Bijadayn: he was drawn to Islam while his people barred him and hemmed him in until they left him in a single coarse cloak with nothing else on him; he fled to the Prophet and, when close to him, tore his cloak in two, wrapping one half round his waist and the other over himself — so he was called "he of the two cloaks". ³

• The explanation of the name is Ibn Hisham's, not part of Ibn Ishaq's account (p. 172); the bijad is a coarse wrap in his gloss.
• The Prophet's prayer "be pleased with him" is a supplication for him; no word of exaltation is attributed in it.