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Bishr ibn al-Bara

بِشْر بْن الْبَرَاء

Bishr ibn al-Barāʾ

Biography

Bishr ibn al-Barāʾ, son of al-Barāʾ ibn Maʿrūr of the Anṣār, fought at Khaybar and was present when a woman of Khaybar gifted the Prophet a poisoned lamb after the surrender negotiations. The Prophet put a bite in his mouth and immediately commanded everyone to stop eating, saying the shoulder of the lamb had told him it was poisoned, but Bishr had already swallowed some. He fell severely ill and died a few days later. Ibn al-Qayyim reconciles the differing reports about the poisoner's fate: the Prophet forgave her for what she had done to him personally, but when Bishr died she was executed in qiṣāṣ, retaliation for Bishr's death, whose right could not go unanswered.

Significance

The one fatality of the attempted poisoning of the Prophet ﷺ at Khaybar, his death converted the crime from a forgiven personal offense into one requiring qiṣāṣ.

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