Abdullah ibn Unays's verses on killing Ibn Nubayh al-Hudhali

Verses on the rhyme of the dal, which Ibn Hisham (not Ibn Ishaq) transmits for Abdullah ibn Unays about his killing of Khalid ibn Sufyan al-Hudhali. ¹

The poet says that he left Ibn Thawr lying like a young camel, with mourning women around him tearing their collars. He reached him, with the caravan behind him and the slain man behind it, and struck him with a white, Indian-steel sword that bit into the heads of the armoured men like a spark of fire in a ghada bush. As the sword cut into his head, he said to him: "I am Ibn Unays, a horseman who is not base; I am the son of one whose rank time never lowered, spacious in his house's courtyard and not stingy." He told him: "Take this with a blow from a noble man who is upright in the religion of the Prophet Muhammad." Whenever the Prophet intended to strike an unbeliever, he had already gone ahead of him, with tongue and hand. ^{1 2}

"Hiwar" is a young camel; "tafri" means to cut; "al-abyad" is the sword and "al-muhannad" is one attributed to India; "ajum" means biting; "al-hamm" means heads; "al-ghada" is a tree whose fire burns fiercely; "al-qa'dad" means base; "al-muzannad" means narrow and stingy; "al-hanif" here means one who turned from the religion of idolatry to Islam. ^{1 2}