Zayd ibn Haritha's raid on Banu Fazara and the killing of Umm Qirfa

Two expeditions of Zayd ibn Haritha against the Banu Fazara in Wadi al-Qura: in the first, Zayd and his companions were struck; in the second, he took vengeance, and Umm Qirfa was killed. ¹

Zayd raided Wadi al-Qura and met the Banu Fazara there. Some of his companions were struck, and Zayd was carried off wounded, with a remnant of life, from among the dead. Wurd ibn Amr ibn Madash of the Banu Sa'd ibn Hudhayl was also struck there; Ibn Hisham says Sa'd ibn Hudhaym, struck by one of the Banu Badr. ¹

When Zayd returned he swore not to touch his head with water for ritual impurity until he had raided the Banu Fazara. When he recovered from his wounds, the Prophet sent him against them with an army, and he killed them in Wadi al-Qura and took booty. ¹ Qays ibn al-Musakhkhar al-Ya'mari killed Masada ibn Hakama ibn Malik ibn Hudhayfa ibn Badr, and Umm Qirfa Fatima bint Rabi'a ibn Badr was taken captive. She was an old woman, the wife of Malik ibn Hudhayfa ibn Badr, with her daughter, and Abd Allah ibn Masada; in another copy, Ubayd Allah. ¹ Zayd ordered Qays ibn al-Musakhkhar to kill Umm Qirfa, "and he killed her with a violent killing", and then they came to the Prophet with the daughter of Umm Qirfa and the son of Masada. ¹

Umm Qirfa's daughter fell to Salama ibn Amr ibn al-Akwa', who had captured her; she was in a noble house of her people, and the Arabs used to say: if you were more honoured than Umm Qirfa, you would not be more so. The Prophet asked Salama for her and he gave her to him; the Prophet gave her as a gift to his maternal uncle Hazn ibn Abi Wahb, and she bore him Abd al-Rahman ibn Hazn. ^{1 2}

Qays ibn al-Musakhkhar said three verses about the killing of Masada, mentioning his striving for the vengeance of Warid and his return upon a champion of the Banu Badr, a raider, and his riding with a spear that was "qa'dabi" like a meteor in a bare place. The editors note that the verse has an irregular rhyme (iqwa') and that "al-qa'dabi" is ascribed to Qa'dab, the maker of spear-heads. ²

• There is no date in Ibn Ishaq; the authors of the expeditions differ on it.
• "Sa'd ibn Hudhayl" in Ibn Ishaq and "Sa'd ibn Hudhaym" in Ibn Hisham; "Abd Allah" or "Ubayd Allah" for the son of Masada. ¹
• The well-known manner of Umm Qirfa's killing in later books of the expeditions is not in Ibn Ishaq, who is content with "a violent killing". ¹