The death of Amir ibn al-Tufayl

Amir ibn al-Tufayl died on his way back from the delegation of Banu Amir, of a disease that struck his neck, in the house of a woman of Banu Salul. ¹

Ibn Ishaq relates that when the Prophet turned Amir away from him, he said: "O God, spare me Amir ibn al-Tufayl." Then the delegation set out on the way home, and when they were on part of the road, God sent upon Amir a plague in his neck, and he died in the house of a woman of Banu Salul. ¹ Before his death he kept saying: "O Banu Amir, a swelling like the swelling of a young camel, in the house of a woman of Salul!" ¹ Ibn Hisham notes that his words are also transmitted as: "a swelling like the swelling of camels, and death in the house of a woman of Salul." ¹ Then his companions buried his body and went on to the land of Banu Amir. ¹

The editors of the 1936 edition explain "ghuddah" as a disease that strikes a camel and kills it, something like the angina that strikes a person, and "bakr" as a young camel. They say that Amir regretted that he did not die killed, as brave men regret it, and regretted dying in the house of a woman of Salul, for which the Arabs described them. ¹

• Ibn Ishaq links the death to the Prophet's prayer against Amir; this is the narrator's link, transmitted as part of the traditional narrative. ¹
• In al-Bukhari, Amir died on his horse, according to what al-Mubarakfuri's book transmits. ²