al-Zibriqan ibn Badr

Al-Zibriqan ibn Badr al-Tamimi was a chief and poet of Banu Tamim. He came to Medina among the delegation of his people's ten chiefs, after the detachment of Uyayna ibn Hisn in 9 AH ¹.

The delegation of Banu Tamim showed their wish for a contest of boasting, and they put forward their poet al-Zibriqan ibn Badr (may God be pleased with him), who recited. Hassan ibn Thabit, the poet of Islam, answered him on the spot. Al-Aqra' ibn Habis then said: "His poet is a better poet than ours," and al-Zibriqan embraced Islam together with his people ².

The Prophet appointed him over the alms of part of Banu Sa'd, in the dispatch of alms collectors in 9 AH ³.

Ibn Ishaq counts him among the nobles of the delegation of Banu Tamim as "one of Banu Sa'd," while Ibn Hisham traces him to Banu Bahdala ibn Awf ibn Ka'b ibn Sa'd ibn Zayd Manat ibn Tamim ^{4 5}. After the speech of Utarid and Thabit's reply, al-Zibriqan stood and recited his poem. Its lines boast that "we are the noble, no one rivals us; from us come the kings, and among us the bi' are raised" ⁶. Ibn Hisham says that some of Banu Tamim transmitted some of its wording differently, and that most scholars of poetry deny some of what is attributed to al-Zibriqan ⁷. When he finished, Hassan stood at the Prophet's command and answered him with his own poem ⁷. Ibn Hisham also transmits from some scholars of poetry among Banu Tamim other verses that al-Zibriqan recited on his arrival, boasting in them of Darim and the quarter-share, and that Hassan answered him in them ⁸.