Kaʿb ibn Zuhayr and the Burdah

Kaʿb ibn Zuhayr also became Muslim. Kaʿb ibn Zuhayr was one of the poets who used their poetry against the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him), and his brother sent him a message telling him that the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) was executing the poets who had spoken against him: so either come to him as a Muslim, or flee before you are killed. So Kaʿb was very worried about this; he was concerned that he might be killed, and the people who were advising him were causing him this fear. But anyway, he decided that he would give it a try and go to the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him).

So he went to the Messenger of Allah — and the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) did not know him — and he said: Kaʿb ibn Zuhayr has come to you repenting, and he wants to become Muslim; will you accept his Islam? The Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) said: yes, let him come. He said: I am Kaʿb ibn Zuhayr. And then he gave his bayʿah to the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him), and he stood and recited a wonderful poem praising the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him). And the story goes that the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) told the Companions to listen to this poem, and then the Messenger of Allah gave him his cloak, al-Burdah. And it is this Burdah, according to the stories, that ended up in the hands of the caliphs of Banū al-ʿAbbās: they considered it barakah, because it belonged to the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him), and it would be handed down from one caliph to the next.