…“Allah is our Protector, whereas the unbelievers have no protector.” Abu Sufyan then exclaimed: “A day for a day-–the day of Badr against this day; one day is in our favour and another against us; a day of women and a day in which we soar. Hanzala for Hanzala, so-and-so for so-and-so, and so-and-so for so-and-so.” The Messenger of Allah ﷺ replied: “They are not the same. Our slain are alive, receiving their provision, while yours are in the Fire, undergoing torment.” Abu Sufyan added: “There has indeed been mutilation among the people, though it came from someone I neither blame nor praise. I neither commanded it nor forbade it; I neither liked it nor disliked it; it did not grieve me nor please me.” They then looked and found Hamza with his belly ripped open; Hind had taken out his liver and chewed it, but was unable to swallow it. The Messenger of Allah ﷺ asked: “Did she eat any of it?” They said, “No.” He replied: “Allah would never permit any part of Hamza to enter the Fire.” The Prophet ﷺ laid Hamza down and prayed over him. A man from the Ansar was brought and placed beside him, and he prayed over that man, whereupon the body of the Ansari was removed while Hamza was left in place. Another martyr was then brought, placed next to Hamza, and the Prophet prayed over him, after which that body too was taken away and Hamza remained. In this manner he prayed over Hamza seventy times that day. Reports to the same effect come from Abdullah b. al-Zubayr (cited by al-Tahawi, Sharh Maani al-Athar, 1/290, with a sound chain); from Jabir (al-Hakim, 2/119-120); and from Shaddad b. al-Had (al-Nasa i, 4/60-61, “Funerals, Prayer over the Martyrs”; al-Tahawi, 1/291, with a sahih isnad). Al-Hakim authenticated it (3/595-596). (1) Ibn al-Qayyim states (Tahdhib al-Sunan, 4/295) that the correct opinion is that the Prophet was free either to perform the funeral prayer over martyrs or to omit it, since reliable narrations support both practices. This is one of the reports from Imam Ahmad and best accords with his legal principles. (2) Reported by Ahmad (4/149, 153); al-Bukhari, nos. 1344 (Funerals, “Prayer over the Martyr”), 3596 (Virtues, “Signs of Prophethood in Islam”), 4042 (Military Expeditions, “The Battle of Uhud”), 4085 (ibid., “Mount Uhud Loves Us and We Love It”), 6426 (Softening the Heart, “The Peril of Worldly Bloom and Rivalry”), and 6590 (Softening the Heart, “On the Basin”); Muslim, no. 2296 (Virtues, “Affirming the Basin of our Prophet Muhammad ﷺ and its Description”); and al-Nasa i, 4/61-62, up to the words “and I am a witness over you.” Muslim’s wording, through the chain of Wahb b. Jarir, from Yahya b. Ayyub, from Yazid b. Abi Habib, from Murthad, from Uqbah b. Amir, is: “The Messenger of Allah ﷺ prayed over the martyrs of Uhud, then ascended the pulpit as though bidding farewell to the living and the dead, and said: ‘I shall precede you to the Basin; its width is the distance between Aylah and al-Juhfah. I do not fear that you will associate others with Allah after me, but I fear for you the world: that you will vie for it, fight one another over it, and be destroyed as those before you were destroyed.’” Uqbah concluded: “That was the last time I saw the Messenger of Allah ﷺ on the pulpit.”