The Prophet ﷺ dispatched a scouting party and placed Asim bin Thabit in command over them. He was the grandfather of Asim bin Umar bin Khattab. They set out, and when they were between Usfan and Mecca, word of them reached a clan of Huzayl called Banu Lihyan. The clan pursued them with about a hundred archers, tracking their footprints until they came to a campsite where the party had stopped. There they found date stones from provisions the party had brought from Medina, and they said, "These are the dates of Yathrib." So they followed their tracks until they caught up with them.When Asim and his companions realized they were being pursued, they took refuge on a high mound. The pursuers came and surrounded them, saying, "You have our pledge and covenant that if you come down to us, we will not kill any of you."Asim replied, "As for me, I will not come down under the protection of a disbeliever. O Allah, inform Your Prophet about us."So they fought them until they killed Asim along with seven others with arrows. Khubayb, Zayd, and one other man remained. The pursuers offered them a pledge and covenant, and when they gave it, the three came down to them. But once they had them in their power, they untied the strings of their bows and bound them with them.The third man with them said, "This is the first act of treachery." He refused to go with them, so they dragged him and tried to force him to accompany them, but he would not, so they killed him. They took Khubayb and Zayd away and sold them in Mecca.Khubayb was bought by the sons of Harith bin Amir bin Nawfal, since Khubayb was the one who had killed Harith on the day of Badr. He remained with them as a captive. When they had agreed to kill him, he asked one of the daughters of Harith for a razor to remove his pubic hair, and she lent it to him.She said, "I was inattentive to a small boy of mine, and he toddled over to him. When he reached him, Khubayb placed him on his thigh. When I saw this, I was alarmed in a way he could see, while the razor was in his hand. He said, 'Are you afraid I will kill him? I would not do that, Allah willing.'"She used to say, "I have never seen a captive better than Khubayb. I once saw him eating from a cluster of grapes when there was no fruit in Mecca at that time, and he was bound in iron. It was nothing but provision that Allah granted him."They took him out of the sacred precinct to kill him, and he said, "Let me pray two units of prayer." Then he turned to them and said, "Were it not that you might think I am anxious about death, I would have prayed longer." He was the first to establish the practice of praying two units before being killed.Then he said, "O Allah, count them in their number." Then he recited,"I do not care, when I am killed as a Muslim, on which side I fall for the sake of Allah. That is in the cause of God, and if He wills, He will bless the limbs of a torn corpse."Then Uqba bin Harith stood up and killed him.The Quraysh sent men to Asim's body to bring back something by which he could be identified, for Asim had killed one of their great men on the day of Badr. But Allah sent over him something like a cloud of hornets that protected him from their messengers, so they could not take anything from him.
حدثني إبراهيم بن موسى أخبرنا هشام بن يوسف عن معمر عن الزهري عن عمرو بن أبي سفيان الثقفي
بعث النبي ﷺ سرية عينا وأمر عليهم عاصم بن ثابت وهو جد عاصم بن عمر بن الخطاب فانطلقوا حتى إذا كان بين عسفان ومكة ذكروا لحي من هذيل يقال لهم بنو لحيان فتبعوهم بقريب من مائة رام فاقتصوا آثارهم حتى أتوا منزلا نزلوه فوجدوا فيه نوى تمر تزودوه من المدينة فقالوا هذا تمر يثرب فتبعوا آثارهم حتى لحقوهم فلما انتهى عاصم وأصحابه لجئوا إلى فدفد وجاء القوم فأحاطوا بهم فقالوا لكم العهد والميثاق إن نزلتم إلينا أن لا نقتل منكم رجلا فقال عاصم أما أنا فلا أنزل في ذمة كافر اللهم أخبر عنا نبيك فقاتلوهم حتى قتلوا عاصما في سبعة نفر بالنبل وبقي خبيب وزيد ورجل آخر فأعطوهم العهد والميثاق فلما أعطوهم العهد والميثاق نزلوا إليهم فلما استمكنوا منهم حلوا أوتار قسيهم فربطوهم بها فقال الرجل الثالث الذي معهما هذا أول الغدر فأبى أن يصحبهم فجرروه وعالجوه على أن يصحبهم فلم يفعل فقتلوه وانطلقوا بخبيب وزيد حتى باعوهما بمكة فاشترى خبيبا بنو الحارث بن عامر بن نوفل وكان خبيب هو قتل الحارث يوم بدر فمكث عندهم أسيرا حتى إذا أجمعوا قتله استعار موسى من بعض بنات الحارث ليستحد بها فأعارته قالت فغفلت عن صبي لي فدرج إليه حتى أتاه فوضعه على فخذه فلما رأيته فزعت فزعة عرف ذاك مني وفي يده الموسى فقال أتخشين أن أقتله ما كنت لأفعل ذاك إن شاء الله وكانت تقول ما رأيت أسيرا قط خيرا من خبيب لقد رأيته يأكل من قطف عنب وما بمكة يومئذ ثمرة وإنه لموثق في الحديد وما كان إلا رزق رزقه الله فخرجوا به من الحرم ليقتلوه فقال دعوني أصلي ركعتين ثم انصرف إليهم فقال لولا أن تروا أن ما بي جزع من الموت لزدت فكان أول من سن الركعتين عند القتل هو ثم قال اللهم أحصهم عددا ثم قال ما أبالي حين أقتل مسلما على أي شق كان لله مصرعي وذلك في ذات الإله وإن يشأ يبارك على أوصال شلو ممزع ثم قام إليه عقبة بن الحارث فقتله وبعثت قريش إلى عاصم ليؤتوا بشيء من جسده يعرفونه وكان عاصم قتل عظيما من عظمائهم يوم بدر فبعث الله عليه مثل الظلة من الدبر فحمته من رسلهم فلم يقدروا منه على شيء