Ka'b ibn Zuhayr

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

Ibn Abi Asim relates in al-Ahad wal-Mathani that Ka'b and his brother Bujayr set out until they reached Abraq. Bujayr said to Ka'b: "Stay here with our sheep until I go to this man and hear what he says." Bujayr went to the Messenger of God and became a Muslim. When this reached Ka'b, he composed verses blaming his brother, and in them 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 to him: "Run for your life." He then wrote that no one comes to the Prophet as a Muslim without being accepted and having what came before set aside. So Ka'b became a Muslim, came, and knelt his camel at the door of the mosque ¹.

Ka'b said: "I recognized the Messenger of God by the description, so I pressed forward until I sat down beside him and became a 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?" Abu Bakr recited the three verses. When he reached the line in which Ka'b had written "I shall destroy the one commanded" (al-ma'mur), Ka'b said: "Messenger of God, that is not what I said. I said 'the trusted one' (al-ma'mun)." The Prophet said: "Trusted, by God." Ka'b then recited to him the ode that opens "Su'ad has departed" ¹.

Ibn Qani' relates through al-Zubayr ibn Bakkar, from some people of Medina, from Yahya ibn Sa'id, from Sa'id ibn al-Musayyib: when news of the killing of Ibn Khatal reached Ka'b ibn Zuhayr, and it had reached him that the Prophet had threatened him with what he had threatened Ibn Khatal with, Ka'b was told: "If you do not save yourself, you will be killed." He came to Medina and asked who was the most gentle-hearted of the Messenger of God's companions. He was directed to Abu Bakr and told him his story. Abu Bakr and Ka'b walked, with Ka'b's face muffled, until they stood before the Prophet. Ka'b said: "A man giving you his pledge." The Prophet stretched out his hand, and Ka'b stretched out his ².

Ibn Hajar gives two accounts of Ka'b's Islam: one makes the cause his brother Bujayr's Islam and the letter Bujayr sent him; the other places it after the killing of Ibn Khatal, on the day of the conquest ¹.

Ka'b ibn Zuhayr came from a house of poets and was one of the finest poets of the Arabs, and he used to satirize the Prophet ³. After the Prophet returned from Ta'if, his brother Bujayr warned him that the poets had fled in every direction, and that the Prophet does not kill anyone who comes to him repentant ³. He came to Medina and stayed with a man of Juhayna, then went to the Prophet in the mosque, placed his hand in the Prophet's hand, and identified himself ³. A man of the Ansar leapt at him and asked permission to strike off his neck. The Prophet said: "Leave him alone, for he has come repentant, renouncing what he was" ³. He recited his ode "Su'ad has departed, and my heart today is love-stricken," offering an apology and praising the Prophet and the Muhajirun. Then, after his Islam had become sound, he made amends regarding the Ansar with another ode in their praise ⁴.