vanced to al-Ghamr[1] where a band of the banu-Asad, Ghaṭafân and others had gathered under the leadership of Khârijah ibn-Ḥiṣn ibn-Ḥudhaifah. According to others, they had on different days different leaders, and each party had its own leader drawn from its own ranks. They fought against Khâlid and the Moslems, with the result that some of them were killed and the others took to flight. With reference to the battle of al-Ghamr says al-Ḥuṭaiʾah-l-ʿAbsi:
"Yea, may all short and humble lances be sacrificed,
in favor of the horsemen's lances at al-Ghamr!"[2]
Khâlid meets abu-Shajarah. Thence Khâlid moved to Jau Ḳurâḳir.[3] Others say he moved to an-Nuḳrah. There a crowd was gathered by the banu-Sulaim and put under the leadership of abu-Shajarah ʿAmr ibn-ʿAbd-al-ʿUzza as-Sulami whose mother was al-Khansâʾ. They fought against Khâlid, and one of the Moslems fell a martyr. By Allah's help at last, the "polytheists'" troops were dispersed, and Khâlid had on that day the apostates burned. When abu-Bakr was told about it, he said, "I shall not sheathe a sword that Allah had unsheathed against the 'unbelievers.'" Abu-Shajarah accepted Islâm, and coming to ʿUmar found him distributing alms among the poor, so he begged for some. ʿUmar asked him, "Art thou not the one who said:
'I quenched my lance's thirst on Khâlid's troops,
and I hope after this that my life will be prolonged'?"
Saying this, he lashed him with the whip.[4] "Islâm, O 'Commander of the Believers,'" replied abu-Shajarah, "has blotted all this out."
