Ka'b ibn Zuhayr

Ka'b ibn Zuhayr ibn Abi Sulma al-Muzani, "the famous poet", "a known Companion" ¹.

Ibn Abi Asim related in al-Ahad wa-l-Mathani that Ka'b and his brother Bujayr set out until they reached Abraq, where Bujayr told Ka'b: "stay with our sheep here until I go to this man and hear what he says" — and Bujayr came to the Messenger of God and became Muslim. When that reached Ka'b he spoke verses blaming him, in which he mentioned Abu Bakr. The verses reached the Messenger of God, who said: "whoever meets Ka'b, let him kill him" and declared his blood forfeit; Bujayr wrote him "save yourself", then wrote that no one comes to him a Muslim without his accepting him and dropping what came before — so Ka'b became Muslim and came until he knelt his camel at the mosque's door ¹.

Ka'b said: "I recognised the Messenger of God by the description and threaded through until I sat with him and became Muslim; then I said: safety, Messenger of God — I am Ka'b ibn Zuhayr". He said: "are you the one who says?" and turned to Abu Bakr: "how?" — who recited the three verses; when he came to "and destroy the commanded one" I said: "Messenger of God, that is not what I said — I said the protected one" and he said: "protected, by God". And he recited to him the poem opening "Su'ad has departed" ¹.

Ibn Qani narrated by way of al-Zubayr ibn Bakkar, from some people of Medina, from Yahya ibn Sa'id, from Sa'id ibn al-Musayyib: when the killing of Ibn Khatal reached Ka'b ibn Zuhayr — it having reached him that the Prophet threatened him with what he had threatened Ibn Khatal — Ka'b was told: "if you do not save yourself you will be killed". He came to Medina and asked who was the gentlest of the Messenger of God's companions; he was pointed to Abu Bakr and told him his story. Abu Bakr and Ka'b walked — Ka'b muffled — until he stood before the Prophet; he said: "a man giving you his pledge", and the Prophet stretched out his hand and Ka'b stretched out his ².

Ibn Hajar gives two accounts of Ka'b's Islam: one making his brother Bujayr's Islam and his letter to him the cause; another placing it after Ibn Khatal's killing on the conquest day ¹.