Salama ibn al-Akwa

The Hero of Dhu Qarad

Salama ibn al-Akwa, of Banu Aslam, was swift of foot and a master archer. When raiders drove off the Prophet’s ﷺ grazing camels at Dhu Qarad (al-Ghaba) and killed the herdsman, Salama — alone and on foot — raised the alarm and pursued them, shooting and harrying them, hamstringing their horses, until he had recovered all the camels along with the weapons and cloaks they dropped in flight. 1 Hayatus Sahaba · Vol 1 · pp. 539–541 — Kandhlawi — Salama single-handedly pursues the raiders at Dhu Qarad and recovers the camels and spoils. At Hudaybiyya he pledged to the Prophet ﷺ “unto death,” repeating the pledge more than once.

Virtues in the Hadith

In the morning the Prophet ﷺ praised him before the army:

كَانَ خَيْرَ فُرْسَانِنَا الْيَوْمَ أَبُو قَتَادَةَ وَخَيْرَ رَجَّالَتِنَا سَلَمَةُ

”The best of our horsemen today is Abu Qatada, and the best of our footmen is Salama.”

Sahih Muslim 1807a · Book 32 (Jihad and Expeditions), Hadith 160 · narrated by Salama ibn al-Akwa