Thabit ibn Qays ibn Shammas

Thābit ibn Qays ibn Shammās was an Anṣārī Companion whose life had been spared years earlier, during the pre-Islamic Wars of Buʿāth between the Aws and Khazraj, by al-Zubayr ibn Bāṭā of Banū Qurayẓah. When Banū Qurayẓah were defeated and their captives brought forward for judgment (5 AH), Thābit sought out al-Zubayr among the prisoners and asked the Prophet ﷺ to spare his life in repayment of that old debt. The Prophet ﷺ granted the request, and then, as al-Zubayr successively asked after his family and his property, granted those as well, until al-Zubayr, learning that nearly everyone else of his tribe had already been killed or was about to be, chose death alongside his people rather than live on alone, and Thābit's intercession went no further.