وَعَنْ سَلَمَةَ بْنِ الْأَكْوَعِ
قَالَ: بَعَثَ رَسُولُ اللَّهِ صَلَّى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ بِظَهْرِهِ مَعَ رَبَاحٍ غُلَامِ رَسُولُ اللَّهِ صَلَّى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ وَأَنَا مَعَهُ فَلَمَّا أَصْبَحْنَا إِذَا عَبْدُ الرَّحْمَنِ الْفَزَارِيُّ قَدْ أَغَارَ عَلَى ظَهْرِ رَسُولِ اللَّهِ صَلَّى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ فَقُمْتُ عَلَى أَكَمَةٍ فَاسْتَقْبَلْتُ الْمَدِينَةَ فَنَادَيْتُ ثَلَاثًا يَا صَبَاحَاهْ ثُمَّ خَرَجْتُ فِي آثَارِ الْقَوْمِ أَرْمِيهِمْ بِالنَّبْلِ وَأَرْتَجِزُ وَأَقُولُ: أَنَا ابْنُ الْأَكْوَعْ وَالْيَوْمُ يَوْمُ الرُّضَّعْ فَمَا زِلْتُ أَرْمِيهِمْ وَأَعْقِرُ بِهِمْ حَتَّى مَا خلَقَ اللَّهُ مِنْ بَعِيرٍ مِنْ ظَهْرِ رَسُولِ اللَّهِ صَلَّى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ إِلَّا خَلَّفْتُهُ وَرَاءَ ظَهْرِي ثُمَّ اتَّبَعْتُهُمْ أَرْمِيهِمْ حَتَّى أَلْقَوْا أَكْثَرَ مِنْ ثَلَاثِينَ بُرْدَةً وَثَلَاثِينَ رُمْحًا يَسْتَخِفُّونَ وَلَا يَطْرَحُونَ شَيْئًا إِلَّا جَعَلْتُ عَلَيْهِ آرَامًا مِنَ الْحِجَارَةِ يَعْرِفُهَا رَسُولُ اللَّهِ صَلَّى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ وَأَصْحَابُهُ حَتَّى رَأَيْتُ فَوَارِسَ رَسُولِ اللَّهِ صَلَّى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ وَلَحِقَ أَبُو قَتَادَةَ فَارِسُ رَسُولِ اللَّهِ صَلَّى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ بِعَبْدِ الرَّحْمَنِ فَقَتَلَهُ قَالَ رَسُولُ اللَّهِ صَلَّى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ: «خَيْرُ فُرْسَانِنَا الْيَوْمَ أَبُو قَتَادَةَ وَخَيْرُ رَجَّالَتِنَا سَلَمَةُ».
قَالَ: ثُمَّ أَعْطَانِي رَسُولُ اللَّهِ صَلَّى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ سَهْمَيْنِ: سَهْمَ الْفَارِسِ وَسَهْمَ الرَّاجِلِ فَجَمَعَهُمَا إِلَيَّ جَمِيعًا ثُمَّ أَرْدَفَنِي رَسُولُ اللَّهِ صَلَّى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ وَرَاءَهُ عَلَى الْعَضْبَاءِ رَاجِعَيْنِ إِلَى الْمَدِينَةِ
God’s Messenger sent his riding-beasts with his servant Rabah and I went along with him. In the morning Abd ar-Rahman al-Fazari raided God’s Messenger’s riding-beasts, so I went up on a mound and shouted three times facing Medina, “A morning raid!” I then went after the people shooting arrows at them and composing words in the rajaz metre saying, “I am the son of al-Akwa; today is the day of the ignoble ones.”* I kept on shooting at them and killing their beasts so that they had to go on foot till there was no riding beast of God’s Messenger created by God which I had not gone ahead of.
Then I followed them shooting at them till they threw away more than thirty cloaks and thirty lances to lighten themselves, and they threw nothing away without my putting stones on it to mark it for God’s Messenger and his companions to notice them. This went on till I saw God’s Messenger’s horsemen. Aba Qatada, God’s Messenger’s horseman, caught up on Abd ar-Rahman and killed him, and God’s Messenger said, “Our best horseman today is Abu Qatadah and our best footman Salamah.”
He then gave me two portions a horseman’s and a footman’s, and after giving me them both he took me up behind him on al-Adba on our way back to Medina. *The line, which is evidently an example of the dimeter of the rajaz metre, has something missing at the beginning. It goes: انا ابن الاکوع والیوم الرضع The full form of the rajaz has the foot mustafilun six times; the dimeter has it four times. In the line above two extra syallables are required at the beginning.