tainly kill thee, as thou art under no safe conduct, having excluded thyself from that group." "Nay," answered al-Ashʿath, "Thou, successor of the Messenger of Allah, wilt rather favor me with a wife." This abu-Bakr did, giving him his own sister in marriage.
Three things abu-Bakr wished he had done. Al-Ḳâsim ibn-Sallâm abu-ʿUbaid[1] from abu-Bakr aṣ-Ṣiddîk:—The latter said, "I wish I had done three things that I did not do:—I wish I had cut off the head of al-Ashʿath ibn-Ḳais when he was brought before me, because it seemed to me there was no sort of evil to be done which he would not attempt to do or help to bring about; I wish I had killed rather than burnt al-Fujâʾah when he was brought before me; and I wish I had directed ʿUmar ibn-al-Khaṭṭâb to al-ʿIrâḳ as I had directed Khâlid to Syria, and thus would have extended both my right and left arms in the cause of Allah."[2]
The captives of an-Nujair ransomed. ʿAbdallâh ibn-Ṣâliḥ al-ʿIjli from ash-Shaʿbi:—Abu-Bakr returned the captives of an-Nujair by ransom receiving 400 dirhams for each head. In order to pay for them, al-Ashʿath ibn-Ḳais had to borrow from the merchants of al-Madînah. After paying the ransom of the captives, he returned the loan. Al-Ashʿath ibn-Ḳais wrote the following elegy for Bashîr ibn-al-Audaḥ, who was one of the delegates to the Prophet and who later apostatized, Yazîd ibn-Amânât and those slain in the battle of an-Nujair:—
"By my life—and life is not an insignificant thing to me—
I had the greatest right to hold tenaciously to those who fell dead.
There is no wonder except when they divide their captives;
and the world after them is not safe for me.
I am like the camel that lost her young and her milk flows,
when she longs for them and comes to the bag, stuffed with straw.
Let the tears of my eyes, therefore, flow
for the loss of the noble ibn-Amânât and the generous Bashîr."
