He mentioned a long hadith in which he said, By Allah, we had not stayed more than three nights before we set out for Khaybar with the Messenger of Allah ﷺ.He said, My uncle Amir began chanting rajaz verses to the men,By Allah, were it not for Allah, we would not have been guided, nor given charity, nor prayed. We have no escape from Your favor. So make our feet firm if we meet the enemy, and send down tranquility upon us.The Messenger of Allah ﷺ asked, "Who is this?"Someone replied, "It is Amir."He said, "May your Lord forgive you."Salama said, The Messenger of Allah ﷺ never singled out a man with a prayer for forgiveness without that man attaining martyrdom.Then Umar bin Khattab called out from atop his camel, "Prophet of Allah, if only you had let us enjoy Amir's company longer."When we reached Khaybar, their king Marhab came out swinging his sword and saying,Khaybar knows well that I am Marhab, fully armed, a tested warrior, when wars come blazing.My uncle Amir came forward to face him and said,Khaybar knows well that I am Amir, fully armed, a daring warrior.They exchanged two strikes, and Marhab's sword struck Amir's shield. Amir went low to strike him from beneath, but his own sword swung back upon him and severed the artery in his arm, and that was the end of him.Salama said, I went out and found a group of the Prophet's ﷺ companions saying, "Amir's deeds have come to nothing. He has killed himself."I came to the Prophet ﷺ weeping and said, "Messenger of Allah, have Amir's deeds come to nothing?"The Messenger of Allah ﷺ asked, "Who said that?"I replied, "Some of your companions."He said, "Whoever said that has lied. Rather, he has a double reward."Then he sent me to Ali, who was suffering from inflamed eyes, and said, "I will give the banner to a man who loves Allah and His Messenger, or whom Allah and His Messenger love."So I went to Ali and brought him, leading him by the hand, for his eyes were inflamed, until I brought him to the Messenger of Allah ﷺ. He spat lightly into Ali's eyes, and they were healed. He gave him the banner.Marhab came out and said,Khaybar knows well that I am Marhab, fully armed, a tested warrior, when wars come blazing.Ali responded,I am the one whose mother named him Haydara, like a lion of the forests, fearsome of aspect. I give them their full measure, the measure of the sandara.Then he struck Marhab on the head and killed him, and the conquest was achieved at his hands.
فذكر حديثا طويلا وفيه: فوالله! ما لبثنا إلا ثلاث ليال حتى خرجنا إلى خيبر مع رسول الله ﷺ. قال: فجعل عمي عامر يرتجز بالقوم: تالله لولا الله ما اهتدينا ولا تصدقنا ولا صلينا ونحن عن فضلك ما استغنينا فثبت الأقدام إن لاقينا وأنزلن سكينة علينا فقال رسول الله ﷺ: من هذا؟ قال: أنا عامر. قال: غفر لك ربك قال: وما استغفر رسول الله ﷺ الإنسان يخصه إلا استشهد. قال: فنادى عمر بن الخطاب، وهو على جمل له: يا نبي الله! لولا ما متعتنا بعامر. قال: فلما قدمنا خيبر قال: خرج ملكهم مرحب يخطر بسيفه ويقول: قد علمت خيبر أني مرحب شاكي السلاح بطل مجرب إذا الحروب أقبلت تلهب قال: وبرز له عمي عامر، فقال: قد علمت خيبر أني عامر شاكي السلاح بطل مغامر قال: فاختلفا ضربتين فوقع سيف مرحب في ترس عامر. وذهب عامر يسفل له. فرجع سيفه على نفسه فقطع أكحله. فكانت فيها نفسه. قال سلمة: فخرجت فإذا نفر من أصحاب النبي ﷺ يقولون: بطل عمل عامر قتل نفسه. قال: فأتيت النبي ﷺ وأنا أبكي. فقلت: يا رسول الله! بطل عمل عامر؟ قال رسول الله ﷺ: من قال ذلك؟ قال: قلت: ناس من أصحابك. قال: كذب من قال ذلك. بل له أجره مرتين. ثم أرسلني إلى علي وهو أرمد. فقال: لأعطين الراية رجلا يحب الله ورسوله، أو يحبه الله ورسوله قال: فأتيت عليا فجئت به أقوده، وهو أرمد حتى أتيت به رسول الله ﷺ. فبسق في عينيه فبرأ. وأعطاه الراية. وخرج مرحب فقال: قد علمت خيبر أني مرحب شاكي السلاح بطل مجرب إذا الحروب أقبلت تلهب فقال علي: أنا الذي سمتني أمي حيدره كليث الغابات كريه المنظره أوفيهم بالصاع كيل السندره قال: فضرب رأس مرحب فقتله. ثم كان الفتح على يديه.
Muslim narrated it in the Book of Jihad and Expeditions (132:1807) via the route of Ikrima bin Ammar, who said, "Iyas bin Salama told me, my father told me," and he mentioned it, and he mentioned it in full in the account of Hudaybiya.As for what Muhammad bin Ishaq narrated, he said, "Abdullah bin Sahl bin Abdul-Rahman bin Sahl, the brother of Banu Haritha, told me, from Jabir bin Abdullah Ansari," who said, Marhab the Jew came out of their fortress having gathered his weapons, chanting in verse and saying,"Khaybar already knows that I am Marhab, armed for battle, a tried and tested warrior, sometimes I thrust and sometimes I strike, when the lions advance blazing, my protected ones are not to be approached."And he was saying, "Who will duel me?" The Messenger of Allah ﷺ said, "Who is for this?" Muhammad bin Maslama said, "I am for him, O Messenger of Allah, I am, by Allah, the aggrieved avenger, they killed my brother yesterday." He said, "Then go to him. O Allah, help him against him."When each of the two drew near his opponent, an old tree of the ushar kind came between them, and each of them began to shield himself behind it from the other. Every time one of them took shelter behind it, the other would cut away with his sword whatever stood in his way, until each of them was exposed to his opponent, and it stood between them like a standing man with no branch left on it. Then Marhab charged at Muhammad and struck him, but Muhammad warded off the blow with his shield. Marhab's sword struck the shield and stuck fast in it, gripped by it, and Muhammad bin Maslama struck him until he killed him.This is shadh (anomalous). It was recorded by Ahmad (15134), Abu Yaala (1861), and Hakim (3/436-437), all of them via the hadith of Muhammad bin Ishaq with his chain of transmission, similarly, and it is found in Sirat bin Hisham (2/333-334). The apparent chain is hasan, except that Muhammad bin Ishaq erred in it, for the scholars of biography and military campaigns agree that Ali bin Abu Talib was the one who killed Marhab the Jew.Hakim said, "This is a sahih hadith meeting the standard of Muslim, though the two of them did not record it, given that there are numerous well-established reports with their chains of transmission that the killer of Marhab was the Commander of the Faithful, Ali bin Abu Talib."