5.—Abú Rafe.
[Sidenote: 53. Abú Rafe.]
Abú Rafe, called also Sallám Ibn Abul Hokeik, was the chief of Bani
Nazeer, who had warred with the Moslems at Medina, and had been banished
to Khyber. He had taken a prominent part in the assembling of most of
the Bedouin tribes at the war of the confederates when they besieged
Medina. Subsequently, he had excited Bani Fezara and other Bedouin
tribes to carry on their depredations among the Moslems. A band of the
latter was dispatched to inflict condign punishment upon him, and he met
with his death at their hands. But the account of his execution are full
of contradictions and discrepancies. But none of these diverse stories
has, that Mohammad commanded the assassination of Abú Rafe, while Ibn
Ishak gives no account of him at all. Ibn Hisham has—"That Abú Rafe had
brought the confederate army against Mohammad, and some of Khazraj had
asked permission to kill him, and Mohammad permitted them." Sir W. Muir narrates that Mohammad "gave them command to make away with Abul Huckeick," whilst the Secretary of Wákidi, whom he follows, simply says, "He gave command to kill him." "Making away with a person" creates an idea of secret murder tantamount to 'assassination,' but such is not the wording of the original. "Sending a party to kill", or fight with an enemy are synonymous, and permissible by the international or military law, the Arab mode of fighting mostly consisting of single combats.