The first Combatant of the Battle

the two parties approached and grew very close to each another. the phases of fight started. the first combatant was the standard-bearer, talha bin abi talha al-‘abdari, who was the most distinguished idolater. he was one of the bravest men of quraish fighters. muslims nicknamed him ‘the ram of the battalion.’ he came forth riding a camel and challenged the muslims to a single combat. people refrained from fighting him due to his bravery; but az-zubair bin al-‘awwam advanced for the fight. he did not give the ‘ram’ any chance to fight but fell on him like a lion on his camel’s back, pulled him down to the ground and slaughtered him with his sword.

the messenger of allâh [pbuh] who was watching that wonderful incident exclaimed: allâhu akbar that is ‘allâh is the greatest’ and the muslims exclaimed allâhu akbar too. he praised az-zubair when he said:

"every prophet has a disciple and az-zubair is a disciple of mine."[as-seerah al-halaiyah 2/18]