And the Exalted One says, “O Prophet, strive hard against the disbelievers and the hypocrites and be stern with them” (At-Tawbah 9:73).

The Prophet ﷺ said, “I have been supported by awe; fear travels before me a distance of one month’s march.”

Zuhayr ibn Muʿāwiyah narrated—from Abū Isḥāq, from Ḥārithah ibn Muḍarrib—that ʿAlī (d. 40 AH) said: “Whenever battle grew fierce and the two armies met, we sought refuge behind the Messenger of Allah ﷺ; none of us was closer to the enemy than he. The Prophet ﷺ stood his ground on the Day of Uḥud and the Day of Ḥunayn, as will be detailed in the sections on his campaigns.”

Zuhayr also reported—from Abū Isḥāq, from al-Barāʾ—concerning the Day of Ḥunayn that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ remained mounted on his white mule while Abū Sufyān ibn al-Ḥārith ibn ʿAbd al-Muṭṭalib held its bridle. The Prophet then dismounted, supplicated for victory, and declared:

“I am the Prophet—and that is no lie;
I am the grandson of ʿAbd al-Muṭṭalib.”

Thereupon the people rallied around him. This episode will be related at length later.

Ḥammād ibn Zayd narrated—from Thābit, from Anas—that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ was the most handsome of people in face, the most generous in hand, and the bravest in heart. One night the people of Medina were alarmed by a noise; he mounted a horse belonging to Abū Ṭalḥah called ʿUrab, and when he returned he kept saying, “Do not be afraid, do not be afraid.” Agreed upon.

Ḥātim ibn al-Layth al-Jawharī reported to us: Ḥammād ibn Abī Ḥamzah as-Sukkarī narrated to us; ʿAlī ibn al-Ḥusayn ibn Wāqid narrated to us from his father, from ʿAbd Allāh ibn Buraydah, from his father, from ʿUmar ibn al-Khaṭṭāb, who said, “O Messenger of Allah, what …”