Ka'b ibn Malik al-Ansari

One of the Messenger's three poets, a knight of the Ansar's knights, of Banu Salama of the Khazraj; he witnessed the second Aqaba pledge and the battles, defended Islam with his poems at Hunayn and the siege of Ta'if, and is one of the three who were reprieved at Tabuk ¹.

On the day of Hunayn Ka'b ibn Malik spoke his famous poem opening: "and one said — will you not weep for your brother / when they passed by, and weeping was her due", describing in it the Muslims' feats, the rout of the hosts of shirk, the razing of Ta'if's strongholds and the standing up to Thaqif ¹.

He stayed behind from Tabuk "without doubt or hypocrisy" per Ibn Ishaq, and became one of the three left behind with Murara ibn al-Rabi' and Hilal ibn Umayya. ² He told his story himself in Ibn Ishaq's chain from al-Zuhri in his account: his delay in preparing (the event), his truthfulness with the Prophet (the event), the fifty nights' boycott (the event), then the acceptance of his repentance (the event) and his vow of truthfulness (the event). ³

In his account he mentions that he witnessed Aqaba with the Prophet when they pledged on Islam, and that before Tabuk he had only stayed behind from Badr. ²