Hassan ibn Thabit's poem 'We were the kings of men before Muhammad'

A short qasida on the rhyme of the lam, which Ibn Ishaq transmits from Hassan ibn Thabit in praise of the Ansar. It follows his qasida enumerating the campaigns. ¹

The poet begins by saying that his people were the kings of the people before Muhammad; when Islam came, they had the "qafl", meaning a return to honour, and God honoured them with days like no other for the victory of God, His Messenger and his religion. ¹ He then praises his people as the best of peoples altogether: they reform by right what their predecessors did, they are not stingy with those who ask them, their war is death and their peace is delay, their neighbour is protected, their bearer keeps every undertaking, their speaker speaks the truth, their forbearance is ancient and their judgement just. ¹ It ends by saying that among them is the trusted one of the Muslims in his lifetime, and the one whom the angels washed of his impurity. ¹

The qasida opens with a line that says they were the kings of the people before Muhammad, and when Islam came they had the return to honour. ¹

Ibn Hisham says that the line "and We clothed him with a name" comes from a source other than Ibn Ishaq. ¹

The editors identify the "trusted one of the Muslims" in the last line as Sa'd ibn Mu'adh, and the man whom the angels washed as Hanzala, whom the angels washed when he was martyred on the day of Uhud; "al-rusul" here means the angels. ¹ They compare the lines of the qasida with the text in the diwan of Hassan, and note differences in order and wording. One of these is that the line "and if they fought or made peace" comes before the last line in the diwan. ¹ They gloss "yurabbun" as "they reform", "ukhtubit" as "they were targeted in their assembly", "al-ulya" as a high place, "al-hamala" as what a person bears of a liability in blood-money, and "awd" as ancient and repeated. ¹