Life-of-Muhammad

76Life of Muhammad saparty reached the territory of the Banu Lihyan, theirescorts had the news delivered to the tribesmen andinvited them to arrest the party or to put them to death.On this vicious suggestion, two hundred armed men ofthe Banu Lihyan set out in pursuit of the Muslim partyand overtook them at last at a spot called Raji‘. Anencounter took place between ten Muslims and twohundred of the enemy. The Muslims were full of faith.The enemy was without any. The ten Muslims climbedup an eminence and challenged the two hundred. Theenemy tried to overpower the Muslims by vile intrigue.They offered to spare them if only they would comedown. But the party chief replied that they had seenenough of the promises made by disbelievers. So saying,they turned to God and prayed. God was well aware oftheir plight. Was it not meet that He should inform theirProphet sa of this? When the disbelievers found the smallparty of Muslims adamant, they launched their attackupon them. The party fought without thought of defeat.Seven of the ten fell fighting. To the three who remainedthe disbelievers renewed their promise to spare theirlives, on condition that they should come down from theeminence. These three believed the disbelievers andsurrendered. As soon as they did so, the disbelieverstied them up. One of the three said, "This is the firstbreach of your plighted word. God only knows what youwill do next." Saying this, he refused to go with them.The disbelievers started belabouring the victim anddragging him down the way. But they were so overawedby the resistance and determination shown by this oneman that they murdered him on the spot. The other twothey took with them and sold them as slaves to theQuraish of Mecca. One of the two was Khubaib ra , theother Zaid ra . The purchaser of Khubaib ra wanted tomurder him so as to avenge his own father, who hadbeen killed at Badr. One day, Khubaib ra asked for arazor to complete his toilet. Khubaib ra was holding therazor when a child of the household approached him outof curiosity. Khubaib ra took the child and put him on his