= Al-Baraʾ, the mother of Haritha b. Suraqa, came to the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, and said: “O Prophet of Allah, will you not tell me about Haritha? He was killed on the day of Badr when he was struck by a sahm gharb (a stray arrow). If he is in Paradise I shall be patient; if not, I shall weep unceasingly.” He replied: “Mother of Haritha, there are many gardens within Paradise, and your son has reached the highest Firdaws.” A sahm gharb is an arrow whose shooter is unknown, whose source cannot be traced, or that hits a target unintentionally. The wording firmly established in the report reads it with tanwin and a quiescent rāʾ. Ibn Qutayba judged the preferable reading to have a fathah on the rāʾ and to be in the construct state. Ibn Zayd held that if the arrow comes from an unknown direction it is read with tanwin and sukun; but if the archer is known and the arrow merely strikes someone he had not aimed at, it is read in the construct with a fathah. Al-Azhari accepted only the reading with a fathah on the rāʾ. Ibn Durayd, Ibn Faris, al-Qazzaz, the author of al-Muntahā and others transmit both forms without restriction. Tirmidhi recorded the hadith (no. 3173) in Tafsir, chapter “And from Surat al-Muʾminun”. His version names al-Rabiʿ, not “Umm al-Rabiʿ” as in al-Bukhari; as Ibn Hajar notes, this slip by al-Bukhari does not affect the authenticity of the report. Ibn Hibban declared it sound (no. 2272). (1) Ibn Saʿd, al-Ṭabaqāt, 3/1, p. 292. (2) Ibn Saʿd, al-Ṭabaqāt, 3/1, p. 292. (*) Ibn Saʿd, al-Ṭabaqāt, 3/1, pp. 59–60; Khalifa, al-Tārīkh, p. 111; Ibn Qutayba, al-Maʿārif, p. 272; Ibn ʿAbd al-Barr, al-Istīʿāb, 11/194; Ibn al-Athir, Usd al-ghābah, 6/70–72; al-Nawawi, Tadhhīb al-asmāʾ wa-l-lughat, 2/212; al-Dhahabi, al-ʿIbar, 1/14; al-Fāsī, al-ʿIqd al-thamīn, 3/295; Ibn Hajar, al-Iṣābah, 11/81.