Musnad Abu Ya'la al-Mawsili 11:3

Abu Kurayb Muhammad ibn al-Ala narrated to us, Yunus ibn Bukayr narrated to us, Ibrahim ibn Isma’il ibn Mujamma’ al-Ansari narrated to me, Ibrahim ibn ‘Abd al-Rahman ibn ‘Abd Allah ibn Ka’b ibn Malik narrated to me, my father narrated to me, from my grandfather, the father of my mother, from ‘Abd Allah ibn Unays, who said: The Messenger of Allah (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) sent me, Abu Qatadah, an ally of theirs from the Ansar, and ‘Abd Allah ibn ‘Atik to Ibn Abi al-Huqayq to kill him. We went out and arrived at Khaybar at night. We followed their doors and locked them upon them from the outside, then we gathered the keys and threw them up. The people climbed into the palm trees, and I and ‘Abd Allah ibn ‘Atik entered the staircase of Ibn Abi al-Huqayq. ‘Abd Allah ibn ‘Atik spoke, and Ibn Abi al-Huqayq said, "May your mother be bereaved of you, ‘Abd Allah! How did you reach this town?" [His wife] said, "Get up and open, for the noble person is not turned away from his door at this hour." She stood up, and I said to ‘Abd Allah ibn ‘Atik, "Go ahead." He drew his sword against them. His wife went to scream, so he drew [his sword] against her, but I remembered the saying of the Messenger of Allah (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) that he forbade the killing of women and children, so I refrained. ‘Abd Allah ibn Unays said: I entered upon him in a loft of his, and I stood looking at the intensity of his whiteness in the darkness of the house. When he saw me, he took a pillow and covered himself with it. I went to raise the sword to strike him, but I could not because of the shortness of the house, so I stabbed him with stabs, then I went out. My companion said, "Did you do it?" I said, "Yes." He entered and stood over him, then we went out. We descended the staircase, and ‘Abd Allah ibn ‘Atik fell on the staircase and said, "Oh, my leg! My leg is broken." I said to him, "There is no harm with your leg." I placed my bow down and carried him—and ‘Abd Allah was short and slight—and I brought him down, and it turned out there was no harm with his leg. We set off until we caught up with our companions. The woman screamed, "Oh, the house!" and the people of Khaybar rose up. Then I remembered the location of my bow on the staircase, so I said, "By Allah, I will return to take my bow." My companions said, "The people of Khaybar have risen up; you will be killed." I said, "I will not return until I take my bow." I returned, and the people of Khaybar had risen up, and they had no speech except about who killed Ibn Abi al-Huqayq. I made it so that I would not look at the face of a person, nor would they look at my face, except that I would say as the one who killed Ibn Abi al-Huqayq would say, until I reached the staircase. I climbed up with the people and took my bow, then I caught up with my companions. We would travel by night and hide by day. When we hid by day, we would set up a lookout to watch for us. When we approached Medina and were at al-Bayda’, I was their lookout. Then I signaled to them with my garment, and they descended and came out running. I descended in their tracks and caught up with them until we reached Medina. My companions said to me, "Did you see anything?" I said, "No, but I saw the hardship that had reached you, and I wanted to make you feel the alarm." We came to the Messenger of Allah (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) while he was addressing the people. He (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) said, "The faces have prospered." We said, "Your face has prospered, O Messenger of Allah." He said, "Did you kill him?" We said, "Yes." The Messenger of Allah (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) called for the sword with which he was killed, and he said, "This is his food on the tip of the sword."